Badwater Source

Badwater Sources are natural structures that continuously emit toxic Badwater, presenting both a hazard and a resource opportunity for beaver colonies. Like Water Sources, they cannot be built or destroyed by beavers and are fixed features of each map. All official maps include at least one Badwater Source to ensure that players must contend with contamination as part of their water management strategy. Badwater Sources occupy a 3x3 footprint at ground level and can have output strengths of up to 72 cubic meters per second, making some of them extremely powerful producers of toxic fluid.

During the Temperate season, Badwater Sources flow continuously, producing a steady stream of contaminated water that can threaten crops, poison beavers, and taint reservoirs if not properly contained. Players must build levees, dams, and diversion channels to route Badwater away from inhabited and agricultural areas. During Drought periods, Badwater Sources cease flowing naturally, providing temporary relief from contamination. However, the Iron Teeth faction can override this by constructing a Badwater Discharge structure on top of a source and opening it, forcing the source to continue producing even during dry conditions. During Badtide events, Badwater Sources produce at full strength alongside the contaminated Water Sources, flooding the map with toxic fluid.

Despite their dangerous nature, Badwater Sources are also a valuable mid-game resource. Badwater can be pumped using faction-specific structures (Badwater Pump for Folktails, Deep Badwater Pump for Iron Teeth) and processed into useful materials. A Centrifuge converts Badwater into Extract, while an Explosives Factory uses it to produce Explosives for terraforming and demolition. Map designers can also assign negative strength values to Badwater Sources, causing them to absorb Badwater rather than produce it, which creates natural drainage points. Managing the balance between containing Badwater contamination and harvesting it as an industrial resource is one of the key strategic challenges in Timberborn.