The Waters of Life

The Waters of Life is a main quest in Fallout 3. It is also a Xbox 360/PC achievement and a PlayStation 3 Trophy.

Go to the Rivet City science lab and join the scientists at Project Purity
James will make his way to Rivet City; the player can choose to follow him there or leave him on his own, either way, he will eventually reach the Rivet City science lab and wait for the player to meet him there.

Upon the player's arrival, James convinces Dr. Li to reactivate Project Purity. After a short conversation, he asks the player to meet him and the scientists at the Jefferson Memorial. It is highly advised to stock up and prepare for a battle, as well as free up as much inventory space as possible.

Characters
Named characters who relocate to the Jefferson Memorial:

Clear Project Purity of any remaining mutant threat
Dr. Li, James, and the rest of the science team will be waiting for the player at the entrance to the Gift Shop. James informs the player that he or she must clear the Memorial of the remaining super mutant threat before they can proceed. The player should have killed most of the super mutants in the Gift Shop area during the Scientific Pursuits quest, leaving the super mutants in the basement to be exterminated. The Memorial Sub-basement consists of short narrow corridors with an occasional room, so Melee Weapons, and Unarmed characters will feel right at home. Users of ranged weapons will need to be more cunning. Mines work well in these tight quarters, as the various hallways create choke points. Close assault weapons will just as well work, the combat shotgun in particular.

If the player has already cleared out the Jefferson Memorial, James and the team will go straight to the Rotunda, bypassing the preliminary pep-talk.

Routine Maintenance
Once James arrives at the control room, he asks the player to carry out some maintenance tasks to bring the project back online.
 * Turn off Flood Control Pump Power - The Flood Control Pump is located in the sub-basement level in a room to the left of the bunk bed area. The switch is beside an Intercom and is illuminated by a floodlight.
 * Get the fuses from Dad / Replace Damaged Fuses - Return to James to get new fuses. The fuse box is at the end of the basement area: there are signs on the wall ('Fuse Access A1') to direct the player to the fuse box.
 * Boot up the mainframe / Speak with Dad over intercom - The door to the mainframe is located on the 'upper level' of the basement, before the stairs down to the bunk bed room. After the fuses are installed, a large green light beside the door will turn on. The player must enter the door and throw the switch on the mainframe, and then speak to James. He will tell the player to return, then change his mind and tell the player to clear out a blockage in an intake pipe.

Drain the Intake Pipes
The entrance to the pipes is directly ahead from the entrance to the Gift Shop. At this point, if you have any companions with you, it may be beneficial to tell them to wait in the basement. Otherwise, they could be lost in the pipes and not able to help you with the battles to come, as well as carry any heavy Enclave power armor you will scavenge. Once inside, the player has to run through the pipe to the end, and turn the control. On the right is the valve to activate the draining. As soon as the valve is activated, the player will witness the arrival of Enclave soldiers in a Vertibird. (If from inside the pipes you successfully attack one or more of the arriving Enclave soldiers then when you go into the next section of pipe they might be waiting for you at the end of the tunnel.) The opposite gate unlocks, and the player is allowed through to the next area.
 * Note that if you tell any companions to "Wait" in the control room, they will immediately die upon activating the valve, so you can't glitch the game into opening the door by timing their one-week wait.

Return to the Control Room
Now you must battle your way back to the Rotunda, dispatching any power-armored Enclave soldiers in your path.

Upon arriving at the control room, Dr. Li is locked out of the main area, while Janice Kaplinski, James, Colonel Autumn and two Enclave soldiers are locked in. Colonel Autumn confronts James and orders him to forfeit the Memorial and assist the Enclave with making the water purifier operational. James refuses, stating that the Enclave has no control over such a private project, and asks the Colonel to leave. Autumn eventually puts a bullet through Janice Kaplinski's abdomen, prompting James to accede to the Colonel's demands to avoid more violence.

James instead overloads the purifier, flooding the locked chamber with deadly levels of radiation. Col. Autumn quickly injects himself with a mysterious solution (most likely the Enclave's version of Rad-X) and keels over, unconscious. James, having no such medicine, drags himself over to the emergency bulkhead and tells his son or daughter to run, before slumping to the ground, dead.

Escort Doctor Li to the Citadel
A stunned Dr. Li informs the player that the only way to escape the Memorial is through a series of underground tunnels that lead to the Brotherhood of Steel stronghold, the Citadel. She will run to a manhole in the floor not far from the rotunda door, and the player must follow. Once in the Taft Tunnel, she will tell the player that they must keep moving to avoid detection by the Enclave. Daniel Agincourt can be given a light weapon, but this is of dubious use to the player, because he may charge headlong into battle and get himself killed. Doctor Li will follow or wait depending on the player's orders; however, it is important to note that she will also move forward automatically if you get too far ahead, stopping at designated points in order to keep up with you. This can be a helpful way of keeping the group out of harm's way without having to micromanage them.

The tunnels are populated with Enclave troops and multiple variants of feral ghouls. The first area with catwalks houses a table with various Chinese items: most notably a Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, a Chinese assault rifle, a dirty Chinese jumpsuit, and a rare Chinese commando hat. Also past the table is another table with a rolling pin like the one found in Tranquility Lane.

Once in the second section of the tunnels (called Taft Tunnel), Garza can be heard saying, "Dr. Li, my heart... I must rest." then Dr. Li will explain that they need to stop: Garza's heart disease has gone critical, and he will not make it to the Citadel alive if first aid is not administered quickly. The player has a few options at this point:
 * Give up five stimpaks to alleviate his condition until he can see professional medical care (this awards good Karma).
 * Convince Dr. Li to leave Garza behind.
 * Convince Dr. Li to give Garza three bottles of Buffout instead, to drug him and keep him moving.
 * Convince Garza it is best to stay behind.
 * Put Garza out of his misery (results in negative Karma).

If the player doesn't want to leave or kill Garza, but hasn't the stimpaks nor Buffout, he or she can continue along the corridors and try to find stimpaks. They are in two locations: the first is an abandoned operating theater which is to the left when the corridor forks off not long after Garza has to stop; the second location is at the very end of the corridors, directly behind the Brotherhood of Steel barricade, in a first aid container.

If you've searched the entire area and still can't find enough medical supplies, you can always fight your way through the tunnel by yourself, leave the tunnel, and go find the supplies somewhere else (buying them from a doctor would be the simplest way). Then, head back to the Citadel, enter the tunnel, and head back to the area where the scientists are. They should still be there, and you should still be able to give Doctor Li the medical supplies and complete the quest as normal.

If Garza is already dead before The Waters of Life is started, this part of the quest will be skipped entirely.

After dealing with the Garza situation, the player can continue the same routine of checking for danger, telling the scientists to wait, then returning to the scientists once their path is secure. Eventually, the player must enter a room with a catwalk above the entrance. This can be a tricky battle, since the Enclave troops have the high ground. Grenades work well: they can damage the Enclave troops even when they try to retreat farther back into the catwalk. The player should stick with V.A.T.S. grenade tosses if their freehand skills aren't up to snuff, lest the grenade come bouncing back. Watch out for companions, particularly Charon, as they seem to have a death wish that directs them to stand in the middle of the room firing at the Enclave. Also, one of the scientists has a strange urge to charge into the room, and making a mistake with a grenade might kill him. Again, melee players will have to ditch their standard weapons to reach these troops. It is possible to get up onto their level and engage them in melee: walk into the room, go up the first set of steps, then the second and turn to face them you can jump onto the railing to your right and then again and you will be able to run along the wall. You can then pick up the Enclave Hellfire armor (if the Broken Steel add-on is installed), or Tesla armor from the soldier with the plasma rifle if you killed him while he was in the right corner near the railing. In the housed area to the back of the room is a desk with an eyebot helmet.

Farther down the passage, the opposition will turn into feral ghouls; a welcome alternative to armor-clad troopers. Eventually, the terrain will become a sewer tunnel with a Brotherhood of Steel checkpoint at the end. The soldier isn't too happy to see civilians running through his checkpoint. Once past the sandbags, it is advised to keep running until the rest of the science team is well away from the sandbags, for a horde of feral ghouls will pour from a near door. The Brotherhood of Steel is armed with a flamer for this exact reason, and will pour flame into his attackers while two overhead turrets help out. They seem to handle the horde well, but the player can help out if need be. At the start of this tunnel on a bench is a Nuka-Cola Quantum and a copy of Nikola Tesla and You on a picnic table behind a generator. If the Brotherhood of Steel trooper is killed, one of the scientists will likely then pick up the flamer and attack the feral ghouls.

Once topside, an exasperated Dr. Li will argue with Paladin Bael for entrance into the Citadel to no avail. She then runs to the intercom and yells at Owyn Lyons to open the "goddamn" door at once. The door—quite comically—immediately opens.

Once inside, Owyn Lyons will confront Dr. Li and the surviving science team. Lyons questions Li for a few minutes on what transpired at the Memorial, and Li breathlessly tells him about James's plan and the Enclave's intervention. If you have not already obtained Power Armor Training from completing Operation: Anchorage!, now is the perfect time to ask Owyn Lyons for permission to begin the training.

Bugs
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