Save Las Vegas! Play 'Losing the Lake (Mead)' Game!

Okay. The game is actually 'Losing the Lake' and it is a simulation to keep enough water in Lake Mead so that Las Vegas can keep growing like a weed for a few more years.

We had a presentation on the game at yesterday's meeting of the External Technical Advisory Board of the Nevada NSF EPSCoR. The project developed it as an educational tool for local schools. It is not to be used as a management model. As you will see, it is not very sophisticated but it is not supposed to be. It makes its point very well.

When you play you'll make some decisions both as a homeowner and a water manager. Yes, you can try to out-Mulroy Pat Mulroy herself!

Here is the Power Point that describes the game. Note that I deleted a few slides that dealt with another topic and changed the title slide to reflect that.

Download Losing_the_Lake_2012

There are three levels of difficulty.

Interesting to note that 'Control population growth' is not allowed as an option to reduce water use. You can click on it, but an explanatory box pops up.

It won't take much of your time, and you'll learn something in the process.

Enjoy!

"In the case of an earthquake hitting Las Vegas, be sure to go straight to the Keno Lounge. Nothing ever gets hit there." - Unknown

Comments

[Emily Green]

How did I miss this delicious post when it first went up two weeks ago? I like the idea of this tool but the design is creepy, for the reasons you observe and others. But given the subject shouldn't they really have adopted "Monopoly"?

[Michael]

Hi, David.

I suspect it was a compromise that really served no purpose. The 'choice' indicated that 'Yes, we know this is an option' but the fact that it could not be implemented was a sop to the pro-growth advocates.

Can you spell C-O-P-O-U-T?

[David Zetland]

Oh, yes. I saw that bit on population. Funny they put it there and THEN say you cannot choose it!

[Michael Campana]

Thanks, David. I don't know whether Pat played but I was told that SNWA gave its blessing to it. Interesting to note that you cannot select 'Control population growth' as an option to reduce water use. I'm not promoting that option, but it should be on the table, if only for curiosity's sake.

[David Zetland]

Fascinating. Did you see that "double water prices" is the most effective action for LV? I wonder if Pat played the game (I got 66 points)...