Local individuals and families looking for recreational opportunities over the upcoming three-day Labor Day weekend will have one less option this year, thanks to the early closing of the city’s Outdoor Aquatic Center at Eighth and Kentucky streets.

For years, the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department has reduced the hours at the pool after classes began at Kansas University and the local public schools but kept the pool open at least on weekends through Labor Day. It stretched the season for pool-goers, and the weather mostly was hot enough to make a dip in the pool inviting. This year, however, officials decided that because of the low number of swimmers and the difficulty of keeping enough lifeguards on duty after students returned to school, it made sense to close the pool earlier, on Aug. 21, a full two weeks before Labor Day. They said they had been looking at the numbers for the last several years, and decided this was the year to make the change.

As it turned out, an outbreak of cryptorsporidium bacterial infections in Johnson County swimming pools may have prompted an earlier closing for the Lawrence pool this year, but that wasn’t known when the decision was made and it hasn’t had an impact on the schedule at the city’s two indoor public pools.

It’s too late to do anything about the pool schedule this year — the pooches have had their annual plunge and the pool is drained — but before next year, parks and recreation officials should come up with a strategy to keep the outdoor pool open at least through Labor Day. Lawrence taxpayers have invested a lot of money in constructing and maintaining the Outdoor Aquatic Center and deserve to have the short pool season extended as long as reasonably possible.