Los Purifique*ƒ‘os live in an egalitarian society, when it comes to water management at
least. An egalitarian society is one that is characterized by the belief in equal power for all
people. The water system is used by all and therefore must be taken care of by all. This
includes paying taxes, taking cargo positions and faenas. Faenas are community service
that is obligatory in place of or in addition to paying taxes. The cargo positions are civil or
religious offices to which residents are elected to serve within the local municipal
government or Catholic Church. (Ennis-McMillan 2006:41) The civil cargos positions last
three years while the religious cargos only last one year. These positions are usually
unpaid, obligatory and are only available and rotated among a qualified set of candidates.
The community elects people from each half of the settlement to balance the knowledge of
distribution and problems. Each member has knowledge of the history of water
management development, the geography of the water system and the names of the people
in the part of the community. (Ennis-McMillan 2006:53) Therefore, when a problem
affects only a certain section of the community, it will affect that section elected member
as well. As with the example given in the book, if the water stopped flowing to a certain
section, the elected members can immediately determine whether is the problem with the
piping, or if the pump wasnt put on at the right time to make enough pressure to get to that
section.
Included in the definition of an egalitarian society is the belief in civil rights. This has
