But our options were drying up. I approached the priest with a written contract that would allow me to maintain control over the treatment system, and would put the group of citizens in charge of the day-to-day operations, but he refused to sign the contract. The cistern was permanently installed in the ground, so we couldn’t just pick up and start over somewhere else. I considered selling the system to the priest and building a new system in another area of the island, but I knew that if I participated in the Padre Jhonny’s corrupt plan, people in Muisne would not trust any other system that I later constructed.

Needless to say, I was upset about what was coming of all the time and money I had invested in the construction. But I wasn’t the only one who was angry. As word spread about Padre Jhonny’s determination to profit from the people of Muisne, people began to talk about removing the priest from his post. But rather than go through the bureaucratic hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the angry citizens considered starting a riot, and forcibly removing the priest from power. This was not a better option, in my view, than abandoning the system altogether. It would have alienated me and my project from many people in Muisne and the rest of the province, and I would have turned into a troublemaker instead of someone who genuinely wanted to improve the health of the residents of Muisne.

There was one final alternative. Several locals who had worked on the project traveled with me to the provincial capital, Esmeraldas, to confer with the bishop in charge of the province. I explained my situation to him, and he promised to support me. He signed a letter that essentially commanded Padre Jhonny to sign the contracted I had originally presented to him. He later signed it—grudgingly—while muttering critical comments as he did so.

A few days later, we finished constructing the treatment system. I tested the first batch of water, and the results revealed no E. coli or general coliforms. This was the first water produced in Muisne to be completely free of bacteria.

Muisne’s drinking water faces many problems, from the individual bacteria and parasites, to the high water table and sandy soil, to the dearth of education about domestic water hygiene. But of all the challenges I faced, the political system was the most difficult for me to surmount. Currently, a group of concerned citizens distributes water from the church every day. Several weeks ago, Muisne’s nuns along with several local church goers successfully deposed Padre Jhonny. A new priest is now in charge of Muisne’s church and has been supportive of the treatment system. But the treatment system still rests in a town controlled by the mayor, Jhonny’s cousin, and there are still people in the town who hope to profit from the treatment system. Politics was the greatest threat to the completion of my project, and continues to be the greatest threat to its proper implementation.