The other activity was a simulation game which our guides set up outside the block where we ate our lunches.
The guide told us that this game was imitating real life and how we got our water. Different groups of us took on different rolls. One stall had a factory which sold perfume bottles, another was the Water Treatment Works. Another stall worked as a car wash, then there was the sewage works, a farm and, last of all, there was the weather! This was represented by a hill with a stream running through it, and at the end of the stream was a bucket which had sponges, spoons and measuring jugs ready. To make the weather, a group of people would grab a sponge, run round the stalls and squeeze the water on to the hill then run back again. But, there was one more job. This was the job of the water inspectors. The inspectors had one of the most important jobs. They had to check all the companies and see that they were doing their jobs properly. There were lots of problems because some groups seemed to be using a lot of water and making a lot of pollution. We all ran out of clean water.
After we finished we had a discussion about how complicated things are in real life. In the game some people blamed the sewage works for polluting the water and other people blamed the farm for using too much fertiliser. Others blamed the weather! We learned how important clean water is to our lives.