You may not know it, but this week is Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week.

The Centers for Disease Control have issued a press release that begins:

The third annual National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week is scheduled for May 21--27, 2007, at the onset of swimming season, to raise awareness regarding the potential for spread of infectious diseases at swimming venues and the need to improve prevention measures. An estimated 8.1 million swimming pools are available for private or public use in the United States. Each year, U.S. residents make an estimated 360 million visits to recreational water venues (e.g., swimming pools, spas, lakes, and oceans), making swimming the second most common physical activity (after walking) in the country and the most common among children.

That's fine, but for many of us, there is no "swimming season" or "surfing season." How about paying attention to Recreational Water Illness Prevention all year long? Oh, and by the way, it would be nice is swimming and surfing in the ocean (as opposed to pools and lakes) wasn't an after-thought.