An educational water quality management game

An educational game for water quality management is developed to assist a novice engineer or student to learn the compromises among three major objectives to manage water quality: cost, water quality, and equity. A window-based interface is developed on a microcomputer. A hypothetical example with four dischargers is used in the program, and the initial scenario is based on a uniform treatment scheme. The player acts as the manager of a water quality authority to design the best compromise policy. The friendly interfaces allows one to exercise judgment in selecting and in modifying discharge permit programs. The design and development of the game and related computer program are described. Network accessibility has provided a novel environment for remote education. A prototypical multimedia network interface is provided for local or foreign remote access to the game.