If your plans include boating this holiday weekend, beware. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is launching "Operation Dry Water" starting this Friday. It's a national campaign aimed at deterring boating under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Lieutenant Adam Block is the DNR Enforcement Boating Law Administrator and he says you will notice them out on Minnesota’s waterways this weekend.
“You'll see more law enforcement personnel in the water,” says Block. “While we may wear different badges, our approach is the same. We have zero tolerance for people boating under the influence. If you make that choice, you will not get a warning and you won't get a second chance.”
Block says about half of the boating related-fatalities in Minnesota involve alcohol.
“Our goal is that every person who heads out on the water returns home safely at the end of the day,” Block said. “If you're drinking and boating, you don't share that goal. And you're putting everybody's life at risk, including your own. In any given year in Minnesota, nearly half of all fatal boating incidents involve alcohol.”
In 2021, over 9,000 citations were issues nationally during Operation Dry Water with over 30,000 warnings issued to boaters.
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