Lok Sabha Question No. 3544 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-10
Subject: Water Wastage Criteria
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: T.N. Prathapan, Behanan Benny, Faizal P.P. Mohammed

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI

## DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3544

## ANSWERED ON 10.08.2023

## WATER WASTAGE CRITERIA

## 3544. SHRI T.N. PRATHAPAN

## SHRI MOHAMMED FAIZAL P.P.

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) whether the criteria of 'water wastage/misuse' has been defined before implementing penalties for the same and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(b)  the  details  of  amount  recovered  as  penalties  for  misuse  of  water,  State-wise  during  the  last  three years;

(c) the number of cases registered and convicted for misuse of water, since 2020; and

(d) the details of the evidence exists to prove the effectiveness of penalties as a measure to reduce misuse of water?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

## ( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

(a) The  Department  of  Water  Resources,  River  Development  and  Ganga  Rejuvenation  is  promoting sustainable  management  of  water  (including  groundwater)  in  the  country  that  includes  use  of  all  the modern techniques, supply side & demand side interventions for effective use of water, conjunctive use of  both  surface  and  groundwater,  participatory  water  management  by  engaging  the  ultimate  users  the citizens/stake-holders (that include awareness generation about efficient water use techniques including controlling  the  misuse/wastage  of  water),  groundwater  management  by  knowing  the  aquifers'  (water bearing formations) characteristics, improvement of agriculture practices through incorporation of microirrigation techniques like drip & sprinkler irrigation, crop rotation/diversification, efficient water pricing etc.

Further, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has been constituted under Section 3(3) of the "Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986"  for  the  purpose  of  regulation  and  control  of  ground  water  by industries, mining projects, infrastructure projects etc in the country. The guideline in this regard with pan-India applicability was notified by the Ministry on 24 September 2020 with subsequent amendment on  29  March  2023.  CGWA  and  States  issue  No  Objection  Certificate  (NOC)  for  extraction  of groundwater  to  various  industries/project  proponents  as  per  their  jurisdiction  and  as  per  the  extant guidelines. The guideline also includes important provisions for management in agriculture sector.

Some  of  the  important  provisions  of  the  guidelines  which  take  care  the  sustainable  management  of groundwater including controlling the misuse/wastage of water are given as under.

i. Water management plan shall be prepared at assessment unit (Blocks/Taluks/Mandals/ Firkas etc) levels incorporating the water availability, utilisation, deficit etc.

## SHRI BENNY BEHANAN

ii. Water audit shall be carried out on biennial basis by industries drawing  groundwater beyond 100 cubic/day and the industries shall reduce groundwater use by at least 20% over the next three years. The water audit shall involve calculating water balance, water use and identifying ways to save water. The detailed water audit shall comprise of water system analysis, quantification of inefficiencies and leaks, reduction of water use in process application by modernisation of industries, water saving opportunities etc.

iii. Water abstraction/restoration charges has been incorporated in the guideline and is levied based on total  quantum  of  water  use  that  include  wastage/misuse  of  water.  The  water  charges  are  telescopic  in nature which encourages project proponents to reduce use of groundwater, minimise wastage/misuse to pay less to Government.

iv. Environment  compensation  have  been  incorporated  to  restrict  illegal  extraction  and  to  bring  the project proponents within the regulation framework and to reduce reckless use of groundwater.

v. In  the  agriculture  sector  use  of  modern  practices  like  participatory  groundwater  management, practice of crop rotation/diversification, review of free/subsidised electricity policy to farmers etc have been incorporated to reduce wastage/misuse/excessive use of water.

(b) & (c) There is no specific Penalty levied against misuse/wastage of water. However, Penalties are levied  for  non-installation/faulty  Digital  water  Flow  meter  with  telemetry  system,  non-disclosure/ construction  of  additional  groundwater  abstraction  structures,  non-installation  of  Piezometers,  nonconstruction and non-maintenance of water conservation structures/inadequate capacity of recharge, nonsubmission  of  water  level/water  quality  data,  non-maintenance  of  log  book  of  daily  withdrawal/non submission of groundwater abstraction data etc.

Further,  Rs  51.99  Crore  penalty  have  been  realized  by  CGWA  since  24.09.2020  till  31.07.2023  from project  proponents  working in 19 States/UTs regulated by CGWA. Details in this regard are  given at Annexure .

In addition, as mentioned in part (a) above, Government is concentrating on sustainable management of water resources by engaging the communities/stake-holders and also levying water abstraction/restoration charges that includes inherent charges against misuse/wastage of water.

(d) The  strategy  being  adopted  by  the  Government  as  mentioned  in  part  (a)  appears  to  be  giving encouraging  results  as  per  available  information.  This  can  be  seen  on  comparing  latest  groundwater resource estimation report (conducted jointly by Central Ground Water Board and States) - 2022 with the estimation report of 2017.

The average 'Stage of Ground Water Extraction (i. e. gross groundwater extraction for all uses on an average to available  groundwater resource)'  for  the  country  as  a  whole  works  out  to  60.08%  in  2022 estimation as compared with 2017 estimation (63.33%), indicating overall improvement in the ground water regime.

Further, the above comparison reveals that the over-exploited ('stage of groundwater extraction' is more than 100 %) assessment units (blocks/mandals/firkas /district/valley etc) in 2017 were 1,186 (17.23%) out of 6,881 assessment units whereas in 2022, there were 1,006 (14.19%) over exploited units out of 7,089 assessment units indicating an improved trend in groundwater scenario.

*****

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) & (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  3544  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  10.08.2023  REGARDING  'WATER

WASTAGE CRITERIA'.

Penalty Realized by CGWA since 24.09.2020 till 31.07.2023 from States/ UTs regulated by CGWA

| S. No.                                 | Sate        | Till 31 July 2023 (in Rs)   |
|----------------------------------------|-------------|-----------------------------|
| ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS            | 3000000     | 1                           |
| ARUNACHAL PRADESH                      | 1300000     | 2                           |
| 3 ASSAM                                | 53030103    |                             |
| 4 BIHAR                                | 17235000    |                             |
| 5 CHHATTISGARH                         | 13713276    |                             |
| DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELIANDDAMAN AND DIU | 21,060,000  | 6                           |
| 7 GUJARAT                              | 123240110   |                             |
| JHARKHAND                              | 14480000    | 8                           |
| MADHYA PRADESH                         | 31589111    | 9                           |
| MAHARASHTRA                            | 70500600    | 10                          |
| 11 MANIPUR                             | 0           |                             |
| 12 MEGHALAYA                           | 700000      |                             |
| 13 MIZORAM                             | 0           |                             |
| 14 NAGALAND                            | 0           |                             |
| 15 ODISHA                              | 54080000    |                             |
| 16 RAJASTHAN                           | 61807860    |                             |
| 17 SIKKIM                              | 10000       |                             |
| 18 TRIPURA                             | 4300000     |                             |
| 19 UTTARAKHAND                         | 49850000    |                             |
|                                        | Grand Total | 51,98,96,060                |

*****