JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 4-year-old boy with autism died Tuesday after drowning in a retention pond at a Baymeadows-area apartment complex.

Community leaders and advocates are calling for increased safety measures to prevent future tragedies.

“We’ve got to do a better job of putting barriers around these retention ponds because they’re accessed far too often by children,” Alissa Magrum, executive director of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, said. “They’re not bodies of water to swim in.”

Paul DeMelo, president of the Just Against Children Drowning organization, knows the pain of losing a child to drowning all too well. He lost his twin sons and has since dedicated his life to preventing similar tragedies.

“By far the worst day of my life,” DeMelo said. “There’s no season for drowning.”

Drowning is the leading cause of death among children with autism, according to the National Drowning Prevention Alliance.

“The drowning rate for those people that have autism is 160 times higher than the rate of their peers who are typically developed,” Magrum said.

City Council Member Ju’Coby Pittman has been vocal about the issue for years.

“Retention ponds have always been a concern and a priority for me,” Pittman said. She added drownings often occur on private property, over which the city has limited oversight.

Pittman is calling on the public for help and says more needs to be done, including funding for billboards and social media campaigns, putting up signage and barriers and working with apartment complexes.

“We want to be proactive and not reactive,” Pittman said.

She says the City Council is preparing to start working on the budget and she will ensure there is funding available to help further this campaign.

The National Drowning Prevention Alliance recommends five layers of protection to prevent drownings: barriers and alarms, supervision, water competency, life jackets, and emergency preparedness.

“We talk to them about holding a hand when you’re crossing the street or in a parking lot, looking both ways before you cross the street, don’t touch a hot stove, but we don’t talk about water safety at the earliest of ages when we’re really forming those better, safer behaviors,” Magrum said.