Park officials, who for years have been criticized by some Uptown residents for failing to keep the fountain in operating condition, will propose filling it with water each morning and draining it each evening, at least through the rest of this summer.

The commission has the final word but is likely to endorse the plan to be proposed by Ron Forman, president of the Audubon Nature Institute, the nonprofit group that operates the park for the Audubon Commission, a city agency that is the park's official governing body.

Dale Stastny, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the institute, said officials will not propose enclosing the fountain with a fence or incorporating it into Audubon Zoo.

That idea has drawn fire from members of Save Audubon Park, an organization of critics of Forman and the Audubon Nature Institute that was formed last year primarily to oppose plans for rebuilding the park's golf course and building a new golf clubhouse.

The fountain, formally known as the Sara Lavinia Hyams Fountain, was donated to Audubon Park in the early 1900s. It is on the river side of Magazine Street, just outside the zoo's fence. Measuring about 40 feet by 15 feet, it has an upper bowl from which water was intended to flow over into a lower pool area, which varies from 3 to 12 inches deep.

The fountain was used as a children's wading pool for decades but has been dry for many years.

In the past 20 years, Audubon officials twice considered reopening the fountain as a wading pool and, for safety reasons, enclosing it by a fence, either by itself or as part of the zoo. But the commission decided each time to leave the fountain and the surrounding area in their "existing, passive condition," Stastny said.

The commission held a public hearing on the pool July 1, with nearly all the speakers urging that the fountain remain freely accessible to the public.

"Don't further reduce the park's open green space," said Keith Hardie, one of the leaders of Save Audubon Park. "Preserve this as a place of peace and tranquillity to be enjoyed by all, as Sara Lavinia Hyams intended, not just by a privileged few."

Elizabeth Donaldson said she didn't care how the fountain is used, as long as it is not fenced off from the public.

Jule Lang said it should be used as a decorative fountain, like the one at the park's St. Charles Avenue entrance, not as a wading pool.

Stastny said he and Forman will propose filling the fountain with fresh, unchlorinated water each morning for the rest of the summer, then draining it each evening so there will be no danger of children drowning overnight when adults are not around. The fountain would not be promoted as a wading pool, but children could wade in it if they wish, he said. "We won't encourage or discourage wading," he said.

The fountain's long-term future is one of the topics to be considered in a forthcoming master plan for the park. Work on the plan will start late this year and take about six months, Stastny said. Public input will be sought on several issues.

If the decision is made to use the fountain as a wading pool on a long-term basis, it would be filled with chlorinated water, Stastny said.

The commission today also will consider a proposal to install a carousel featuring wooden models of endangered animals in the children's section of Audubon Zoo.

The park had a popular carousel for many years, but it was removed and sold about 30 years ago. The carousel in City Park's amusements area is one of that park's best-known attractions.

The Audubon carousel, to open in 2003, would cost about $400,000, Stastny said. Constructing a building to house it and restrooms could push the total to about $1 million.