Ground Water Crisis

Why is the issue?

A new regulatory regime for groundwater that provides for equitable use is urgently needed.

What is the present scenario?

India is facing a severe water crisis that requires immediate attention.
The primary source of domestic water and irrigation is groundwater but the media and policymakers often focus on surface water.
Water tables have been falling rapidly in many parts of the country, indicating that, use generally exceeds replenishment.
Indeed, the quality of the water pumped is also increasingly becoming cause for concern

How has groundwater use evolved in India?

In the mid-19th century the British administration decided that the easiest way to regulate groundwater was to give landowners a set of rules on what amounts to proper use.
Over the following decades, landowners started seeing groundwater as their own, a resource they can exploit without considering the need to protect and replenish.
Access to a source of groundwater has progressively become a source of power and economic gain.
The latter has become increasingly visible in recent decades with the increase of mechanical pumps, which allows big landowners to sell water to others.
This has become a menace as the immediate consequences of over-exploition is not felt.

What are the steps taken by the union government in this regard?

The Union government recognised the need to modernise the regulatory framework for accessing groundwater soon after massive expansion in mechanical pumping.
In the early 1970s a model Bill was first introduced, which focussed on adding some State-level control over grounderwater use, but did not take away the unlimited access that the landowners enjoyed.
This was only taken up by around a dozen States from the late 1990s onwards, whereas the others are yet to address this issue.
In addition, there is no provision in the existing legal regime to protect and conserve groundwater at the aquifer level.
Further, the present framework remains mostly top-down and fails to give gram sabhas and panchayats a prevailing say in the regulation of what is essentially a local resource.
The failure of the present legal regime has been officially recognised since at least the beginning of this decade, by the erstwhile planning commission & the Ministry of water resources.
As a result, the Groundwater (Sustainable Management) Bill, 2017 was introduced.

What are the highlights of the ‘Groundwater Bill, 2017’?

The bill proposes a new regulatory framework based on the recognition of the unitary nature of groundwater pool, the need for decentralised control and the necessity to protect water at the aquifer level.
It recognition water as a public trust and a fundamental right.
The Bill also builds on the decentralisation mandate and seeks to give regulatory control over groundwater resources to local bodies.
The proposed new regime will benefit the resource, through the introduction of groundwater security plans and valuable local participation.
This will serve as a mandate to use groundwater wisely, protect it for our own benefit, as well as for future generations.

Source: The Hindu