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For some kids, sprinklers are a big part of the summer fun. But it's no laughing matter when the water goes to waste.

“There's been plenty of times I passed through the park and there is no kids in the park and the water's just running,” said one passerby.

The city's Parks and Environmental Protection commissioners say it's time to put an end to that. The agencies installed timers and activation buttons on spray showers at the Maple and Glendale playgrounds. The sprinklers use about 7,000 gallons of water a day.

“We expect that timer will save us 80 percent of that water or 5,600 gallons per day,” said DEP Commissioner Carter Strickland.

The city is looking to retrofit 23 more spray showers for about $15,000 each by next summer and 400 by 2017 as part of its "Water for the Future" program.

“The single most important thing we can do going forward is making sure we have a regular, steady supply of clean drinking water and a way to process the dirty water we create and a way to manage storm water,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

The city is hoping to prepare for the time, eight years from now, when less water will be flowing in. That's when it will shut down the Delaware aqueduct to repair leaks in the tunnel.

“We are giving ourselves a long lead time and this is one of many water efficiency measures we're doing. Overall, with parks, just with the spray showers alone, we hope to save a million and a half gallons a day,” Strickland said.

The DEP is also speaking with the New York City Housing Authority and other city agencies about water-saving measures which kids at a park in Glendale seem to like. At first, some thought the timer would dampen the fun but quickly changed their minds.

“It's very, very cool and it's not wasting water,” said one area resident.

“I didn't like it at first because I thought the water would be really light and didn't get you a lot of wet but now I went in it and it did get me a lot of wet,” said a child.

“It's really fun because on a hot summer day all you want to do is get wet,” said another child.