Torit municipality, water tankers agree on water price
By Theophilous Ochang
The Torit municipality and water tanker drivers in Eastern Equatoria State on Wednesday agreed on SSP 5000 as the price of water per drum.
This was discussed in a meeting between the Torit municipal authorities and the water tanker’s drivers after residents complained about the high charges levied on them by the water tankers.
Ihure Ate, a resident of Torit town, said the water tankers had started charging them without notice from the municipality.
He said the drivers were charging them at SSP 5000 per drum, and some places were at SSP 6000.
“The issue of water for us now is tough, if you see, every early morning, people don’t sleep like now, people don’t stay in the town; you find people carrying water on their heads as if people are not in the town,” he says.
Omoli George, the chairperson for the water tankers drivers’ union in Torit, said the increment of water price from SSP4000 to SSP 5,000 per drum came after last year agreement.
“Since December 2024, the cost of commodities have gone up, but for water remains the same. All of us know this. The price of fresh maize was SSP1000, now it is SSP 1000 yet nobody talks about it.”
He added, “From January, February, March, April, May, June, and now July, the drivers said things are not going well, the cost of living has gone up. I cannot emphasize much because the government has motorbikes and vehicles and they know the pains of fueling these vehicles. This is what we feel,” he said.
Ahaya Tony, another driver, said the initiative to increase the price of water was not to burden the consumers but to ease the work amid the biting economic crisis.
“It is not to put the burden on the consumers now, but just to make our work easier because everybody knows the economic situation now,” Tony argued, citing the high cost of vehicle spare parts among other expenses as the reason for increasing price of water.
Meanwhile, Oyito Baptist, the Mayor of Torit Municipal Council, said they have agreed on a fixed price and urged the water tankers to supply clean drinking water to the residents as one of the preventive measures to curb cholera.
“We have agreed on SSP 5000 together with the clients. So our key concern is the safety of the people and other diseases like Cholera. We have to treat the water with chemicals such as chlorine to make it safe for consumption,” he said.
