Water ~

Learn how to easily manage water supply in SimCity 3000. Discover efficient pump placement and the importance of water treatment plants for your growing city.

Let's face it, every city needs an adequate water supply to be successful. However, the water system in SimCity 3000 is different but surprisingly easier to use. Instead of having to connect pipes, placing a water pump in a tile will provide water to all surrounding tiles up to seven squares away on every side. Pretty nice, as now we won't have to spend ages watering everything!

However, the water pumps now have to be placed near a freshwater source if you don't want to use the weaker water towers. There are many ways you can do this, but I like to place them this way to organize them and make them easier to keep track of:

Key:
# = Water
P = Pump

                 [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] 
              [P]####################################[P] 
                 [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] 
              [P]####################################[P] 
                 [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] 
              [P]####################################[P] 
                 [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P]

That is by far, the easiest way to place pumps. Keep in mind that you don't need to go through the trouble of lowering land; you can simply place pieces of surface water.

Water treatment plants are expensive but very useful when it comes to polluted water. You won't need a water treatment plant for small towns, but when you have the seaport releasing all that smoke and sludge into the water, a treatment plant around there is almost necessary. At $15,000, it's a significant investment, so you should only place one near your more prominent water producers.