(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to check the syphoning of ground water illegally to meet scarcity of water in urban areas of the States;
(b) if so, whether the Government has identified such
sensitive areas in the States;
(c) if so, the total number of areas identified as over
exploited and dark; and
(d) the steps being taken to supply the water to such areas
by the Government?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR HEAVY INDUSTRIES, PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND WATER RESOURCES (SHRI SONTOSH MOHAN DEV)
(a) to (d) “Water†being a State subject, it is
primarily the responsibility of the concerned State
Governments to take steps to regulate the withdrawal of the
ground water. The Union Ministry of Water Resources has
circulated a Model Bill in the year 1970, which was re-
circulated in 1992 and again in 1996 to all the States/UTs
to enable them to enact suitable legislation for regulation
and control of ground water development. A revised Model
Bill 2005 to regulate and control the development and
management of ground water has been again circulated to all
the States/UTs.
However, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA)
constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is
taking the following regulatory measures to check the over-
exploitation of the ground water:-
(i) CGWA has notified 11 critical areas on consideration of
over-exploitation of ground water resources and 32 over-
exploited areas for registration of ground water structures.
(ii) CGWB is regulating withdrawal of ground water by
industries/projects in over-exploited, critical and semi-
critical areas. Proposals for setting up of new
industries/projects are referred to CGWA by the State
Pollution Control Boards and the Ministry of Environment &
Forests for seeking clearance with regard to ground water
withdrawal which are evaluated on case-to-case basis based
on site-specific technical studies etc.
Water levels are periodically monitored by the
Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), a subordinate office
of the Ministry of Water Resources, as well as the
States. As per assessment carried out, out of 5723
assessment units (blocks/mandals/talukas) in the
country, 839 units have been categorized as “Over-
exploited†i.e. annual ground water extraction exceeds
the annual replenishable resource and significant
decline in long term ground water level trend has been
observed either in pre-monsoon or post-monsoon or both.
In addition, 226 units are ‘Critical’ i.e. the stage of
ground water development is between 90% and 100% of
annual replenishable resource and significant decline
is observed in the long term water level trend in both
pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods. There are 550
“Semi-critical†units, where the stage of ground water
development is between 70% and 90% and significant
decline in long term water level trend has been
recorded in either pre-monsoon or post-monsoon.
Further, the Union Ministry of Urban Development
is implementing a Centrally Sponsored “Accelerated
Urban Water Supply Programme†(AUWSP) under which
financial assistance is provided to implement water
supply in small towns having population less than 20000
as per 1991 census. Funding pattern is 50:50 between
the Centre and the States, which includes 5%
contribution from urban local bodies. Priority has been
assigned to towns with special problems like very poor
per capita supply, very distant and very deep water
source, drought prone areas, excess salinity, fluoride
& iron content in water source and high incidence of
water borne diseases etc.