Central water board asks states to implement model bill

With nearly half of the 29 states in the country yet to implement a model bill to regulate ground water, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has asked them to speed up the process.
According to K B Biswas, Chairman of CGWB, 15 states have come out with their own bills to regulate ground water.
"Since water is a state subject every state should have have their own rules and regulations. Around 15 states have adopted their own bills and acts for regulations," he said.
State governments, which have not so far formulated their own bills, have been reminded to do so last month.

Biswas was speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on integrated and collaborative solutions for water and municipal solid waste management.
A comprehensive model bill for regulation of groundwater development and management was circulated to all the states for adoption by the Ministry of Water Resources.

The Model Bill provides for the setting up of State Groundwater Authority on similar consideration as the CGWA. It also envisages issue of direction to the state local bodies for making rainwater harvesting mandatory in feasible areas.
Earlier addressing the gathering, Betsy Otto, Global Director, Water Program Aqueduct, World Resources Institute at Washington said that ground water level in pumping wells and monitoring wells in India has declined by 16 per cent between 2007 and 2014.

The groundwater level in the pumping wells has dropped by one meter on an average every year, she claimed.
India Water Tool 2.0, which presents a more holistic picture of the water situation in districts and taluks, where company operations, offices and supply chains are located by bringing in new and updated data sets and a GIS platform that can overlay information, was released on the occasion.