No such specific study has been carried out by this Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation. However, ground water levels in certain parts of the Country are declining because of continuous withdrawal necessitated by increased demand of fresh water for various uses, vagaries of rainfall, increased population, industrialization & urbanization etc

 

Further, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is periodically monitoring the ground water levels throughout the Country on a regional scale, through a network of monitoring wells. In order to assess the long term fluctuation in ground water level, the water level data collected during November 2021 has been compared with the decadal mean of November (2011-2020). Analysis of water level data indicates that about 70% of the wells have registered a rise in ground water levels.

 

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 development and management in the Country including cold beverage manufacturing companies. CGWA grants ‘No Objection Certificates’ (NOC) for ground water abstraction in 20 States/UTs through guidelines which are modified from time to time. The latest guidelines in this regard with pan-India applicability has been issued by this Department on 24 Sep 2020. In remaining States/UTs, the respective state governments  are regulating Ground Water as per their extant guidelines/provisions.

The guidelines include various provisions to tackle over-utilization of groundwater by various industries, including cold beverage manufacturing companies. The guidelines provide for giving due regard to groundwater availability while considering NOC applications, telescopic water abstraction/restoration charges, periodic annual water audit to reduce water usage, submission of impact assessment reports, levying of penalty/ environmental compensation in case of non-compliance of NOC conditions/ illegal extraction etc. The Ground Water regulation guidelines can be accessed at URL: https://cgwa-noc.gov.in/landingpage/Guidlines/NewGuidelinesNotified250920.pdf#ZOOM=100.

The guidelines dated 24 Sep 2020 includes various provisions for better monitoring of groundwater extraction by industries/project proponents and compliance of NOC conditions. Some of them are: provision of flow-meters., construction of piezometer(s) fitted with digital water level recorders, installation of telemetry system, random inspections by CGWB/ CGWA officers, inspection and review at the time of renewal of NOC etc. Further, concerned District Magistrates/ Deputy Commissioners have also been authorized to initiate action against violation of NOC conditions.

This Information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti,  Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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BY/AS

(Release ID: 1807797)