The Volunteer Park wading pool may not be going away but given the weather so far in 2011 it seems like it might not get much use. Scheduled to begin its summer season today (June 25th), the wading pool is only open on days forecast to reach 70 degrees. Fahrenheit, wise guy. You can call the Seattle Parks pool hotline at (206) 684-7796 to get the scoop — supposedly the line is updated daily by 9a. Cal Anderson’s wading pool, by the way, is slated to open its season on Friday, July 1st.

In the meantime, the Mayor of Miller Park Andrew Taylor is always quick to remind everybody that Miller Community Center’s splash fountain is the much less persnickety option. It opens in mid-April, stays open into October, runs between the hours of 11 to 8 every day and, importantly, has no temperature restrictions so Capitol Hill little ones can frolic until their teeth chatter. The splash fountains are more efficient from a water-use perspective, too.

This season, Parks is trying to do more to address that end of the equation. They plan to only partially fill the city’s wading pools on most days in an effort to conserve water. On popular days, Parks says, the wade pools will be fully stocked. Even fully filled, the Parks pools are more efficient than backyards throughout the neighborhoods being filled with kiddie pools, the department says. That’s all moot if those inflatable pools are filled with rainwater.