Jean Rissmiller will never turn on the tap again without thinking twice – or more – about the clean water she can get from her faucets.
Rissmiller experienced a life-changing trip to the Ecuadorian Amazon in mid-November with fellow Estes Park Rotarians Paul and Teresa Mueller and John Minier. Also on the trip was Jack Baker, the owner of Innovative Water Technologies, Inc., and the inventor of the WallSpring, a self-contained, solar and wind-powered microbiological water purification system.
Rissmiller sat down with the Estes Valley Voice just before the holidays to share reflections and photos of her trip.
After retiring from a two-and-a-half-year stint with the Bank of Estes Park – which she described as a “post-retirement job” following more than 18 years as a marketing manager at CA Technologies in Plano, Texas – Rissmiller told herself, “I just want to make a difference. I want to make a difference. And this is what Rotary does.”
Rissmiller served as the 2023-2024 president of the Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary Club and is currently the area governor for Rotary District 5440. Through her involvement at the local and district levels, she knew of Rotary groups that had undertaken global service projects to bring clean water to communities lacking modern infrastructure.
As Rissmiller researched what other Rotary groups had done, she learned about Baker’s company, located in Rocky Ford, Colorado. She also knew of Minier’s work in South America with two philanthropic service organizations.
Minier – an engineer, West Point graduate, and former commander of the Estes Park American Legion Post #119 – has made five trips to the Ecuadorian Amazon with Maketai, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Tucson that coordinates eco-retreats in the region. Maketai partners with Fundación Mente, an Ecuadorian NGO that supports rural and indigenous communities, designing and implementing conservation projects and local sustainable enterprises.
The two organizations have collaborated to provide broiler chickens that lay eggs, providing an important source of protein and a sustainable microeconomy in remote rainforest communities.
With Minier’s help, Rissmiller, the Muellers, and Baker worked with a Rotary group in Puyo, Ecuador, which facilitated introductions to the elders of the Achuar community of Kutsutkao, a remote indigenous village in the Pastaza province in southeastern Ecuador.
The village has approximately 300 residents, and the children are tasked with hauling water up a muddy hill from the Kapawari River. This Amazon basin tributary drains into the Amazon, the world’s second-longest river, and the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world. Rissmiller described the hill as a challenging, treacherous climb.
Although locals boil the water before cooking with it or drinking it, the water remains muddy and contaminated with human and animal waste. Due to industrialization in the region and unregulated practices, the rivers of the Amazon jungle are polluted with carcinogenic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and other toxic waste from oil extractions.
The water has become a public health crisis for the region. Many villagers, particularly the young and elderly, have suffered from illnesses caused by the contaminated water, including cholera and dysentery.
Two years of planning, fundraising, and training
It was essential that the Estes Park group go through the proper channels with regional and tribal authorities in order to bring the water purification project to the community, said Rissmiller, explaining that the villagers are proud of their heritage and traditional ways.
Although they have incorporated some modern amenities into village life, including cell phones and Starlink internet access, the community is cautious about the incursion of outside influences and agendas.
The village leaders, however, were receptive to the idea of a clean water system, not only for the villagers’ health but also to support the hatchlings.
In a phone interview with Minier, he explained that the Achuar people have a rich dream culture that guides decision-making and informs their spirituality. Some 35 to 40 years ago, members of the community began to have the same dream: introduce the outside world to the rainforest to foster love and respect for the area among foreigners.
Following the guidance of the dreams, villages have cautiously worked with individuals and organizations to incorporate select modern amenities.
In an email exchange with Paul Mueller, one of the biggest surprises for him was that the remote village had Starlink. However, the access was limited because the village is not electrified. To log onto Starlink, the village uses a generator that requires fuel, which is expensive.
After writing and securing a $40,080 Rotary International Global Grant, Rissmiller raised funds through the Estes Park Sunrise and Noon Rotary clubs. She also received funds from four other Rotary clubs and $1,500 from the Bank of Estes Park to underwrite Baker’s travel expenses. The total cost of the trip was approximately $60,000, and the Estes Rotarians paid their own way.
“To be as remote as we were in the Amazon Rainforest, we felt it was imperative that Jack go with us. And we are glad he did,” said Rissmiller.
The group had to figure out the complicated logistics of transporting the water purification equipment.
With no direct roads into Kutsutkao, the equipment had to travel by truck from Colorado to Los Angeles, then by ship to Guayaquil, Ecuador, then again by truck to Puyo, Ecuador, where the local Rotary group stored it for nearly two months before the final leg of the journey by an islander airplane to the remote village near the border of Ecuador and Peru.
Rissmiller and her traveling companions flew from Colorado into Quito, Ecuador, where they spent the night. The next day, a driver took them to Shell, located near the regional provincial capital of Puyo, approximately six hours from Quito. There they boarded two small Cessna 180 airplanes for what she described as an hour-long flight over dense rainforest to an area accessible only by air or river.
Before leaving Puyo, each member of the group received a pair of mud boots. Rissmiller said they wore them the entire time. The tiny airstrip they landed on in Kutsukao was a mud runway and an open-air, grass-shack terminal. Rissmiller’s descriptive narration of the journey sounds like something straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.
Although extremely remote, tourists from around the world come to the area to experience the Amazon, and many locals serve as guides to showcase the fragile region and educate visitors about the problems of deforestation.
Upon their arrival in Kutsukao, the Estes Park Rotarians and Baker were welcomed by the villagers with a formal greeting ceremony. Their lodging was at an ecolodge – a collection of grass huts – about 30 minutes away by boat in Kapawi.
The group went to work installing the water treatment system and training villagers to maintain and service the equipment, which can produce up to 13,680 gallons of safe drinking water per day over the next decade.
Mueller was impressed by the villagers’ hospitality, resourcefulness, and curiosity about the water system we were installing. “One of the biggest challenges for a safe water project of this nature is the willingness of the tribal members to understand and follow the maintenance schedule. The tribe had already identified four members to undertake this responsibility, which we named ‘Grupo de Agua.’ They were very interested in learning the system and the specific steps of all the maintenance procedures. Through videos and virtual calls on WhatsApp, they have an open channel to seek advice and troubleshoot any issues that might arise.”
The Rotarians had learned about the water treatment system and did training on its installation and operation leading up to the trip, but because some of their supplies and tools – even the water test kits – were stolen during transport and at customs, some creative “McGuivering” and engineering adaptations were required when it came time to install the filtration system. Rissmiller said it was fortuitous that both Baker, the inventor of the system, and Minier were engineers.
The system features a two-stage process. The first stage removes larger particles, and the second removes turbidity, bacteria, viruses, and cysts. The high-tech yet low-maintenance system has been used to provide clean water in developing areas and during emergency relief efforts in 38 countries.
When the villagers who were being trained to service the system cleaned out the membrane for the first time, Rissmiller says they were “aghast at how black that water was, and they’re like, this is what we’ve been drinking?”
In February or March, Minier plans to return to check on the installation and assist with any necessary adjustments.
More than water
In addition to providing a water filtration system for the village, the group distributed 300 pairs of reader eyeglasses and 100 pairs of sunglasses to village members in partnership with Restoring Vision, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in San Francisco.
This was the first time the villagers had ever had access to vision correction, and the look on people’s faces as things came into focus touched Rissmiller deeply.
Rissmiller says the journey left an indelible imprint on her. If possible, she would like to return and bring additional water purification systems to other villages in the region. In the meantime, turning on the water here at home has taken on a whole new meaning.
Although the Muellers have been actively involved in local service projects such as the Labor Day Art Festival and Autumn Gold Festival, which are put on by the Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary Club, this was the couple’s first service trip of this nature. But they are interested in doing more.
“We’ve already identified some follow-on projects for the water system that could occur as soon as February. In addition, Teresa and I now have the ‘bug’ to seek out similar projects to participate in,” said Mueller.
Hey Reader,
Interested in learning more about Rotary and how you, too, can make a difference in collaboration with like-minded members of your local community (while having fun and fellowship along the way)? Estes Park is blessed with two Rotary Clubs. The Sunrise Rotary Club meets on Tuesdays at 7 am at Expedition Lodge. The Rotary Club of Estes Park meets on Thursdays at Noon at the American Legion Post 119. Guests are always made to feel welcome at either Club. Who knows where your Rotary Journey might lead!