The Water Institute of South Sudan in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal State, on Thursday graduated 16 students after they underwent an intensive one-month course in water management.

Speaking to Radio Tamzuj during the graduation ceremony, the institute’s director, Ajang Agok, said the graduates came from the four states of Western Bahr el Ghazal, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and Lakes state and were trained in water quality testing, water adaptation and how water can be sustained at their community level.

“Water Institute of South Sudan trained 16 students from four states in water quality testing and also water adaptation to see how water can be sustained in the counties and also in the state,” said Agok. “We want to make sure that we build the capacity of South Sudanese to be able to maintain all the water points that had been provided across the country.”

According to Agok, the training will be extended to all 10 states and three administrative areas and the trainees will be deployed in the community.

“The capacity building for these students is to make sure that they will sustain all the water points by themselves,” he said. “Water for South Sudan Foundation as a national NGO will be there to make sure that the students are implementing what they have learned from this training. We will also do evaluations to see how they are performing.”

Some of the graduates said the training they acquired would help in the mitigation of drinking contaminated water.

Pantit Atem said they learned the importance of a laboratory and treating water.

“Now if we go back to Warrap State, we can rescue the entire population from getting diseases because they are drinking bad water,” she said. “The training we acquired is good and we hope for additional training so that our people in Warrap know about diseases we get from water.”

Justin Bilario Marghan, another graduate, said he had no knowledge about water management but learned a lot during the training.

“I managed to learn a lot about water management,” he said.