It’s not quite time to hit Pittsburgh’s 17 city pools, but its two spray parks will be open for business this Saturday.

Starting at 1:00 PM on May 26th the city’s spray parks in Troy Hill and Beechview will be operational.  The city’s pools open for the season on June 14th at 1:00 PM.

City spokeswoman Joanna Doven said the constant maintenance involved with keeping a pool open contributes to the different opening and closing times between pools and spray parks.

“Other than a pool, spray parks will cool you off, many times they’re even more fun than pools, and of course they’re safer,” Doven said. “For the city, [spray parks] are easier to maintain and offer a viable solution to providing good recreation for our young people.”

Doven said spray parks do not have things like chemical or lifeguard expenses, which keeps the operational costs low for the city. Spray parks will remain open into the fall while the city’s pools will close on Labor Day.

Three more spray parks are currently under construction, and the city hopes to have them up and running by the end of the summer.

“Those locations are Mellon Park, which is in the Point Breeze neighborhood, East Hills, which is in the East Hills neighborhood, and Warrington Avenue, which is in the Arlington neighborhood,” Doven said. “We’re looking forward to having a total of five spray parks in the very near future.”

The spray parks are free but the pools are not. Passes can be purchased at the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh or at the pools. The disabled  and veterans may use the pools for free. For more information on the city’s pools, spray parks, and prices, visit the Citiparks’ website.