The Central Ground Water Authority of the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation on December 12, 2018 notified revised guidelines for ground water extraction.
The guidelines were revised in the wake of the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to address various shortcomings in the existing guidelines of ground water extraction.
The revised guidelines, which will be effective from June 1, 2019, aim to ensure a more robust ground water regulatory mechanism in the country.
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Salient features of the revised guidelines
• Encourage use of recycled and treated sewage water by industries
• Provision of action against polluting industries
• Mandatory requirement of digital flow meters, piezometers and digital water level recorders, with or without telemetry depending upon quantum of extraction
• Mandatory water audit by industries abstracting ground water 500 m3/day or more in safe and semi-critical area and 200 m3/day or more in critical and over-exploited assessment units
• Mandatory roof top rain water harvesting except for specified industries
• Measures to be adopted to ensure prevention of ground water contamination in premises of polluting industries/ projects
Exemptions under the revised guidelines
• The revised guidelines exempt the requirement of NOC for agricultural users, users employing non-energised means to extract water, individual households (using less than 1 inch diameter delivery pipe) and Armed Forces Establishments during operational deployment.
• Other exemptions have been granted to strategic and operational infrastructure projects for Armed Forces, Defence and Paramilitary Forces Establishments and Government water supply agencies.
| Ground water extraction in India | ||
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- The remaining 10 percent of extraction that is 25 BCM is for drinking , domestic as well as industrial uses. - The industrial use is estimated to account for only about 5 percent of the annual ground water extraction in the country. - India is the largest user of ground water in the world, extracting ground water to the tune of 253 BCM per year, which is about 25 percent of the global ground water extraction.
The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, has the mandate of regulating ground water development and management in the country. CGWA has been regulating ground water development for its sustainable management in the country through measures such as issue of advisories, public notices, granting No Objection Certificates (NOC) for ground water withdrawal. |
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