“Water is life” and without it, the fate of about 400,000 people living in Juba city is on the brink.

Three days after Juba City Council issued a temporary regulation of water supply tariff, the morning hooting of water tanks that used to wake up those sleeping till sunrise, went silent.

The talk in the city suburbs is that the tanker operators were on sit-down strike, something that didn’t bother much, as private service providers; they may choose to rest at their wish.

Thanks to JICA for funding the water treatment plant with the capacity to purify 10,800 cubic meters of Nile River water every day, which was launched in March 2023, in the capital city.

A great number of residents access affordable, clean water from about 120 public taps constructed in the residential areas which get water from 8 water tanker stations linked to the main treatment plant.

However, the public water taps are neither sufficient nor equitably distributed to supply the entire city, where the private tankers came in handy to serve other customers door to door, but now with a painful pinch.

Citizens are battling to feed their families as commodity prices are on astronomical tour, other civil servants (in some states), haven’t seen their pay sheets for months, school requirements are demanding, and so forth.

Juba City Council barely needs the water suppliers to have mercy on us, let them go slow, charge fare prices, or else, they get “sweets and canes.”

The sweet and canes, in form of SSP 1000 and SSP 2000 fines, imprisonment and operation license withdrawal.

Wittingly, despite of a full bag of “drastic measures” which would lead to permanent withdrawal of operations license and confiscation of the water Tankers” the operators hid their cunning plot underneath like a vest, smart enough to dodge the wrath of the city council.

They resorted to delays to start water supplying operations and slow pace of delivery is the decisive method these tanker operators seem to have implied to portray their dissatisfaction with the authority.

However, the private water suppliers, under an association, (if there exists) need a table engagement with the city authority for harmonious operations, otherwise, they live in loggerheads.

However, as circumstances are not favorable; the population may resort to drinking dirty water at the cost of lives if only God saves us from diseases like cholera and diarrhea.

Juba is not only the national and Central Equatoria State capital, but also a home for several foreign national dignitaries, diplomats, and a regional trade hub, as such, requires something bigger than private tankers commuting water in the city.

Therefore, the National Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Central Equatoria State Minister of Housing, Land and Public Utilities, and Juba city authority, should explore the possibilities for sustainability.

Hence there is a necessity to implement Strategic Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project (SWSSIP), to enable sustainable, safe, and clean water coverage in the country and end frictions with individuals.