Water truck supplying drinking water to the Kingston Public Hospital last week. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Some view them as enter-prising, others as unscru-pulous, but the upshot is that private truck operators are enjoying the demand for water, investigations carried out by The Gleaner have unearthed.

The probe found that some private truck operators purchase the critically scarce commodity dirt cheap and, in turn, sell it to residents for big bucks.

The Gleaner tracked down a private truck operator who demanded $5,000 to fill a 600-gallon water tank, and $8,000 for a 1,000-gallon container.

As it was during the Prohibition era in the United States when liquor was banned and the resulting scarcity sent prices skyrocketing, so it is with the cost of water, which is rising above the affordable levels of many.

The Gleaner also found that the price of the commodity is dependent on the location of purchaser. If you live in an upper middle-class neighbourhood, or above, chances are you will have to dig deeper into your pockets than if you reside in other areas.

A woman who lives in Barbican, in upscale St Andrew, told The Gleaner that the fetching price is $10,000 to load up the 1,000-gallon water tank.

Another man who resides in another upscale area disclosed that he purchased a 1,000-gallon tank of water for $15,000.

When The Gleaner contacted the operator under a disguised name and gave an address in a lower middle-class community, the asking price was $8,000.

"You have to have the cash in hand before the truck drop off water; is only drinking water," the operator declared in defence when questions were raised about the cost.

"And we have to spend money to buy fuel," he added.

The prices charged by the private truck operator, in most cases, were much higher than residential water bills for an entire month.

But the National Water Commission (NWC) says while it monitors truckers it contracts, and delivers that water free of cost to customers, it is unable to flush out private operators.

Charles Buchanan, corporate relations manager at the NWC, told The Gleaner the product was sold to private truck operators under the new tariff structure.

The NWC charges $225 per 1,000 gallons for the first 3,000 gallons; $390 per 1,000 gallons for the next 3,000 gallons; $430 per 1,000 gallons for an additional 3,000 gallons; and $548 per 1,000 gallons for the next 3,000 gallons.

Private operators would, therefore, be spending a mere $775 to fill three 1,000-gallon water tanks, for which they would rake in between $24,000 and $45,000, depending on the area.

Buchanan told The Gleaner that in some instances, because there is a shortage of trucks, the NWC makes arrangements with institutions, such as schools and hospitals, to provide water free of cost, if they are able to find transportation.

According to Buchanan, selling water so expensively might not be illegal, and one of the challenges the NWC was confronted with during severe drought was that some truck operators had always made and continued to make a killing.

"There is no price control that we have in how they do it," Buchanan asserted. "In some cases, they may very well be involved in corruption."

He explained that the NWC, at times, engages private truck operators to deliver water on its behalf at its expense.

"If these persons sell the water, they would actually be paid twice, and that is where the corruption comes in."

Buchanan added: "In those cases, we are very clear: We would take action against persons who sell water when they are delivering on our behalf, or extract bribes."

He said challenges surfaced as, occasionally, privately owned trucks provided services on the NWC's behalf, but also carried out legitimate operations privately with the commission.

Buchanan said persons who are unclear about the functions of these persons may contact the NWC's security department, which is part of its corporate office, to determine whether the water is being trucked on its behalf.