Conserving Groundwater

Context: Recently the Government notified new rules for regulating the extraction of groundwater and disallow industries, mining, and large housing projects in areas where this natural resource is in a precarious state due to indiscriminate use.

Crux of the new rules

• For new Projects: Disallow industries, mining, and large housing projects in areas where ground water resource is in a precarious state.

• For existing projects: The existing units need to get fresh no-objection certificates and pay on the basis of the amount of water withdrawal.

• Exemptions: several categories of large users have been exempt from these regulations.

Drawbacks of the rules

• Exempted categories include biggest exploiters of ground water resources: Which includes farmers, micro and small industries, and domestic consumers,  consuming  nearly 95% of the drawn groundwater, with agriculture alone accounting for 90% of it.

• It disregard the basic fact that the objective of groundwater conservation cannot be fully served unless its unrestrained and wasteful use in agriculture is also controlled

• Does little to deter water wastage: Except counselling the states to review their policies concerning power supply and water pricing.

• No importance given to changing cropping patterns: The need for changing cropping patterns in water-deficit regions is mentioned but only in passing.

• Consequential policy vacuum: Earlier guidelines, notified in 2018, were struck down by the National Green Tribunal. This had led to  uncertainty in the  future of thousands of existing companies in water-stressed zones.

Way Forward: Need for effective regulation of subsurface water

• Need for effective regulation of sub-surface water: Over one-third (36%) of the   country’s groundwater assessment units are either over-exploited or in semi-critical or critical condition.

• Curtail water splurging in agriculture: employing micro-irrigation through drip and sprinkler water delivery systems.

• Government steps: target of bringing 10 million hectares under this efficient mode of irrigation in the next five years and has also created a Rs 5,000-crore dedicated fund for this purpose.