When the summer sun beats down on Bismarck, Mandan and other towns on the shores of the mighty Missouri River, the people in and around the communities get the urge to get in the water.

"Water attracts people in the summertime," said Nancy Boldt, the administrative and water safety coordinator for North Dakota Game and Fish.

Though the cool water can sound enchanting during the heat of summer, Boldt warns that the river can be cruel.

"I don't think people lots of times realize the power of the Missouri," she said.

The drowning death of Samuel Quainoo, who was last seen swimming in the river with friends, highlights the need to respect that power, Boldt said.

"Swimming in the river is never safe," she said.

Boldt pointed out that sandbars change daily. Water may be ankle deep in one step, 20 feet deep in the next. One wrong step can pull a person into the current.

"They think of the river as a lake," Boldt said.

She said high gas prices may be keeping people closer to home, and they may be heading to the nearby river rather than driving to area lakes. Lakes warm up faster than the river and rarely have a current.

"The river is always moving," she said.

Last weekend, Boldt saw people hanging onto logs and riding on inflatable mattresses, floating down the Missouri River. Even inflatable rafts shouldn't be out on the river, said Boldt.

"Your visibility and boaters' visibility of people on a raft is so limited," she said.

Despite signs posted on boat docks along the river, telling people the docks are for boats and not swimmers, it's not unusual to see people jumping from the docks into the water, Boldt said.

While young children often wear life jackets in the river, older children and adults don't always don the safety devices, she said.

"People need to respect the river a lot more than they do," she said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)