The 2004 swimming season at the four pools run by the St. Louis County Department of Parks and Recreation is being reduced by five weeks to coincide with St. Louis’ weather and school calendars, according to a department news release.

The pools now will open Saturday, June 12, and close Sunday, Aug. 15. The county pools had been scheduled to be open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

“The county pools will be open during the peak swimming season,” Lindsey Swanick, interim director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, stated in the release.

“But we have slightly shortened the schedule at each end — in early June, when pool water might not be quite warm enough for recreational swimming, and in late August, when some local school districts are back in session. Plus, many of the lifeguards are college students, so they go back to school before the pool season closes, and it was always tough to find qualified replacements for just a few weeks.”

Net savings from shorter pool hours should total $47,200, according to Swanick.

Proposition P proposed a one-eighth-of-a-cent sales tax in St. Louis County that would have generated $16.5 million annually dedicated to St. Louis County Parks.

Operating hours and fees at the pools will remain the same, but — because of the shortened season — season passes will not be available this year, according to Swanick.

St. Louis County has a water park in St. Vincent Park and three Olympic-size pools in Veterans Memorial Park, Kennedy Park and Queeny Park.

Daily admission for all swimming locations is $2 for ages 5 through 12 and ages 65 and over; $3 for ages 13 through 64; and free for ages 4 and under.