We all know lifeguards play a vital role making our beaches safer, but now a new report has measured their exact value in cold, hard cash.
According to professional services firm PwC, surf lifesavers in NSW are worth A$1.6 billion ($2 billion) a year to the economy - just under half the total A$3.6 billion annual value of the national surf lifesaving movement.
In hours alone, volunteer surf lifesavers donated time worth A$21 million during 2009/2010.
You can then add on the economic value of saving lives and preventing injury.
The PwC report says an extra 600 lives would have been lost on nationwide beaches and coastal waterways if it were not for surf lifesavers.
