Although Water is a State subject, the regulation of ground water abstraction is being done at both Central and State levels. At the central level, Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) constituted in January 1997 under sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 as per direction of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, has been vested with responsibility for regulation and control of groundwater development and management. CGWA has been granted the powers to, amongst others, regulate and control, manage and develop ground water in the entire country and to issue necessary directions for this purpose. The Authority regulates in 20 States/ UTs (14 States/ UTs. Have their own Acts and 2 States are regulating under some GO). In these States, NOCs for ground water withdrawal are granted by the respective SGWAs or designated authority.
CGWA has issued Guidelines from time to time for evaluation of proposals/requests for ground water abstraction with the objective of ensuring sustainability of ground water both in terms of quantity and quality, looking into the variations in availability of water in different climatic regions and diverse hydro-geological conditions in various States of the country. CGWA regulates ground water development and management by issuing ‘No Objection Certificates’ (NOC) for ground water extraction to industries or infrastructure projects or Mining Projects etc. Necessary conditions for implementation by the proponent are laid down in the NOC issued by CGWA.
The Authority has been conferred with the following powers:
(i) Exercise of powers under section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for issuing directions and taking such measures in respect of all the matters referred to in sub-section (2) of section 3 of the said Act.
(ii) To resort to penal provisions contained in sections 15 to 21 of the said Act.
(iii) To regulate and control, management and development of ground water in the country and to issue necessary regulatory directions for the purpose.
(iv) Exercise of powers under section 4 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for the appointment of officers.
The Applicants who seek permission for Water Extraction may obtain services of the accredited individuals or institutions for conducting a hydrogeological survey and prepare a report on the ground water scenario and the impact of the proposed extraction on the ground water reservoir, which is mandatory for issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Central Ground Water Authority. All projects extracting/proposing to extract ground water in excess of 100 m3 /day in Over-exploited, Critical and Semi-critical areas and in excess of 500 m3 /day in areas underlain by non-alluvium and 2000 m3 /day in areas underlain by alluvium in Safe assessment units shall have to mandatorily submit impact assessment report and ground water modeling study of existing/ proposed ground water withdrawal on the ground water regime covering 5 KM radius area around the project site prepared by accredited consultants. The accreditation policy for ground water professionals is provided in Quick Links section.
