A warning for parents this summer, as the drowning death toll for pre-school children rises.

This year 84 people died from drowning, and seven of those were preschoolers.

Water Safety New Zealand chief executive Matt Claridge says parents must make sure there's nowhere nearby a child could drown.

"Biggest issue there is a lack of supervision. Obviously fencing off the home swimming pool is one thing, but parents and caregivers need to be within arms reach, which is incredibly important over the summer period."

New Zealanders are expected to take personal responsibility this summer - and keep the holiday drowning death toll at zero.

Claridge says with more people around the water in the holidays, comes more opportunity for incidents.

"So we're bound to see some near misses, collisions on boats and what have you.

"But they can all be minimised if people are prepared to take that notion of responsibility, with the clear factor the water is there to be enjoyed."