UPDATED 7.45am: Surf Life Saving Northern Region is putting the big question to swimmers - if you're not going to swim at a beach where there's flags up, then what are they there for?

Eight people have died in water-related incidents so far this summer holiday period, seven of them drowned.

The fatalities include a three-year-old child and an 82-year-old woman.

Water Safety New Zealand chief executive Matt Claridge says people shouldn't swim if the conditions aren't right.

"You've got to actually put in place some safety precautions. We suggest that sometimes you shouldn't go out, sometimes the weather, the marine conditions just aren't good enough and you shouldn't do it."

Two of the drownings occurred at Ruapuke Beach, which isn't far from Raglan's main surf beach, yet only last week, Raglan Surf Life Saving Club was facing funding shortfalls. It's now found the money to put lifeguards on the beach for the extended summer holiday period, but say they can't do everything.

Northern Region chief executive Matt Williams says there hasn't been a death in a flagged patrol area in the last 100 years, but that's up to swimmers to keep it that way.

"The responsibility is on you - we, Surf Life Saving, have gone to utmost effort to put these patrols on, to make sure there's a safe place to swim and yet you swim in a place which isn't safe?!"