For water fun this summer, head south.

Auburn's Rotary Spray Park at Les Gove Park joins Renton's Henry Moses Aquatic Center as two of the best local options for cooling off. Both opened last year; Tacoma's leisure pool at Stewart Heights Park is now in its third summer. And the state's largest water park, the Six Flags-owned Wild Waves & Enchanted Village in Federal Way, added Zooma Falls, a family raft slide, this summer.

Families looking for the spray area at Les Gove Park can just "listen for the gurgling water and giggling kids," says Daryl Faber, Auburn's director of parks and recreation.

The colorful spray area features water cannons, a spraying arch, ground-level water jets and overhead fountains. The $200,000 project, jointly funded by the city and Auburn Rotary Club, replaced a leaky wading pool.

"It's been a huge success," Faber said. "It's more kids, more fun and more smiles for less water."

After fresh city water is used in the spray features, it runs off into storage tanks and later irrigates the park in the evening. Each individual feature has a button and turns off when not in use.

The city learned to keep the spray timers short — 10 or 20 seconds — "because kids want to push things," Faber said. "The more often they get to push it, the happier they are."

Thus, the geysers "look like they're always going, but it's because someone is always pushing the buttons."

Designed for toddlers to age 8 or 9, the spray area attracts as many as 300 kids in a sunny day. Compared to a wading pool, "you get a wider age span of kids having fun in the same amount of space," Faber noted.

Spray parks and leisure pools are popular trends for cities looking to add or update water facilities. Other local park officials have already expressed interest in replicating Auburn's experience, Faber said.

With a swimming pool costing $2 million and up, a spray park has a lot of appeal for about a tenth of the cost, he noted. Cities also don't have to worry about hiring lifeguards or dealing with contaminated water.

More costly, but more visible, are the South End's leisure pools, which offer water slides, lazy rivers for tube floating and play structures with dumping buckets and water guns. Renton's aquatic center also has a wave pool.

On sunny days, the $5 million complex can reach its 650-person capacity within half an hour of opening, said Kris Stimpson, the city's recreation supervisor. People start lining up at 11:30 a.m. — or earlier — for its noon session. "People need to be patient," she said. The second session, which starts at 4 p.m., is not usually in as much demand.

Her tip: Come on a partly cloudy day. The water is heated and all the features are going. Or plan ahead and get a group of three families together to qualify for a group rate. These must be reserved two weeks in advance, but then admission is guaranteed.

Tacoma's Stewart Heights Pool gets crowded but rarely turns people away, said Susan Hulbert, communications manager for Metro Parks Tacoma. The complex offers a large deck and lawn area for picnics and relaxing.

Stephanie Dunnewind: sdunnewind@seattletimes.com.