Free swim passes reward kids who pledge to avoid arroyos

Albuquerque families got a simple bargain for summer safety: keep children out of dangerous ditches and arroyos, and they could earn free one-day swim passes instead. The Ditch the Ditches program gave digital passes to children 17 and younger, and this year’s passes were valid at all City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County pools from May 23 through Sept. 7.

That payoff mattered in a county where water hazards can turn deadly fast. The city said ditches are mud-lined waterways that run roughly north to south parallel to the Rio Grande and usually carry water from March 1 to Oct. 31. It also said flash flooding is New Mexico’s number one natural disaster, a warning that lands hard during summer storms and runoff.

The city’s safety materials also put the risk in stark terms: drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in New Mexico for people ages 1 to 44. Victims have ranged in age from 2 to 87, a reminder that arroyo and ditch danger is not limited to the youngest children.

The Swim and Play Pass Program was organized by the Ditch & Water Safety Task Force, a multi-agency group focused on teaching residents in Albuquerque and surrounding areas about ditch and arroyo dangers. The process was built to be straightforward: take the pledge, generate a digital pass and use it at community pools. City forms also showed that printed passes were set aside for Title I schools and nonprofits, with limited quantities available for outreach.

Bernalillo County’s 2026 summer pool materials added the practical side of the story. Pool rentals, swim lessons and swim passes could be paid by credit or debit card, and county pool operations continued through the summer at sites including West Mesa Aquatic Center, Sierra Vista Pool and Eisenhower Pool. For families looking for a safer place to send kids on hot afternoons, the passes offered a free alternative to unsupervised play near waterways.

The campaign was not new. KRQE reported in 2024 that the program was in its 29th year, showing how long local officials have used a mix of incentives and education to steer children away from arroyos and toward supervised swimming. In a region where heat, monsoon runoff and the Rio Grande drainage system intersect, the message stayed blunt: a free pool pass can be more than a perk if it keeps a child out of water that can become dangerous in minutes.