SimCity 132: Water

Managing water in SimCity 5 is much, much simpler than in previous versions of the game. You don't have to lay any pipe. Instead, your focus is on reading the water table and then strategically placing water towers on those areas that have lots of water to then distribute to the rest of your city.

Mousing over the information button on the water department HUD will give you the following tips on keeping your citizens hydrated:

• Place water towers to provide water
• RCI buildings that don't get enough water will go abandoned
• If a ploppable doesn't get water, it will stop functioning
• Dark blue areas of the water map hold the most water
• Rain will replenish the water table
• Excess water can be sold to neighbors
• Purchase water from neighbors
• Rivers and lakes supply unlimited water
• Water towers on polluted ground will make many Sims sick

Water Towers

Making a simulation game easy to play is important to keeping it fun the for highest number of people. Water towers symbolize the full breadth of the modern water distribution system in our modern cities.

The Water Table

When you go to put any water structure in your city, you are then presented with a view of your water table. This water table is very important in determining where the best locations for placing water towers, sewage output pipes, garbage dumps, and industrial zones.

Clean Water

Providing your Sims with clean water is paramount. Therefore, you must avoid placing industrial zones and sewage pipes near your water tables so that you don't inadvertently poison your citizenry. Examining the water table and then mapping out where your sewer pipes are going to go based on where the water isn't is one of the first steps to planning a successful city.

In the image above, I deliberately placed industrial zones over an aquifer (at right) to show how easily you can pollute ground water. However, because the drinking water comes from the aquifer on the other side of the map (far left), the pollution doesn't affect my citizens.

Supply

Demand is obvious -- everyone needs water. Period.

However, according to the information provided by the game, there's the possibility that the aquifers that you tap into during the game could run dry. The beta games cap at one hour of play, so we couldn't play long enough to actually put a dent in an aquifer. However, if it is the case that you can drink the place dry, then water tower access to rivers and bays should be a very important part of your long-term strategy. I'll have more on this after the game launches.