Sixteenth Lok Sabha Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga R
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5 STANDING COMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES (2015-2016) SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION REVIEW OF GROUND WATER SCENARIO, NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE POLICY AND MEASURES TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS IN THE COUNTRY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO (I) DARK BLOCKS; AND (II) CONTAMINATION OF UNDERGROUND WATER BY CERTAIN INDUSTRIES FIFTH REPORT LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI December, 2015/Pausha,1937 (Saka) 1 FIFTH REPORT STANDING COMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES (2015-2016) (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION REVIEW OF GROUND WATER SCENARIO, NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE POLICY AND MEASURES TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS IN THE COUNTRY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO (I) DARK BLOCKS; AND (II) CONTAMINATION OF UNDERGROUND WATER BY CERTAIN INDUSTRIES Presented to Lok Sabha on 22.12.2015 Laid on the Table of Rajya Sabha on 22.12.2015 LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI December, 2015/Pausha,1937 (Saka) 2 W. R. C. No. 08 Price : Rs. © 2015 By Lok Sabha Secretariat Published under Rule 382 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha (Fourteenth Edition) and Printed by 3 CONTENTS PAGE COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (2015-2016) ……………………………….. (iii) INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………….. (v) PART – I REPORT CHAPTER I Introductory ……………………………………………………. 1 CHAPTER II Ground Water Resources – Quantitative and Qualitative Issues Ground Water Utilization…………………………………………… 5 Assessment of Ground Water Resources……………………….. 6 Ground Water Depletion and Shortages…………………………. 6 Ground Water Pollution and Contamination………………………. 7 National Water Policy, 2012………………………………………… 8 CHAPTER III Dark Blocks, Associated Issues and Government Measures Distribution of Dark Blocks ………………………………………… 9 Ground Water Scenario in 9 critical States ……………………… 11 Factors responsible for Dark Blocks …………………………….. 12 Implications of Dark Blocks on India’s Ground Water scenario … 13 Deteriorating ground water scenario in Northern India …………. 14 Measures taken by the Government for Dark Blocks …………. 16 Blocks / Areas with improved ground water situation …………… 46 CHAPTER IV Contamination of Underground Water and Government Measures Nature, sources and types of ground water contamination ……… 48 Causes of Arsenic and Fluoride contamination …………… 50 Contamination of Ground Water by industries ……………………. 50 Distribution of water quality affected habitations ………………… 52 Measures taken by Government of India ………………………… 54 Arsenic and Fluoride contaminations in West Bengal …………. 67 Pollution of Ground Water in Greater NOIDA and NCR ……….. 70 National Green Tribunal ……………………………………………. 71 Water Quality Assessment Authority ……………………………… 72 PART – II OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS …………………………. 75 (i) 4 PART – III ANNEXURES I. State / UT-wise Ground Water Resources Availability (Including Utilization … 108 and Stage of Development) in India II. Location Details of Dark Blocks (Over-Exploited Assessment Units) in ……. 109 various States / UTs III. Minutes of the Seventh Sitting of the Committee held on 27 January, 2015…. 137 IV. Minutes of the Eighth Sitting of the Committee held on 16 February, 2015… 140 V. Minutes of the Fourteenth Sitting of the Committee held on 26 May, 2015… 143 VI. Minutes of the Second Sitting of the Committee held on 20 November, 2015… 146 VII. Minutes of the Third Sitting of the Committee held on 17 December, 2015… 148 (ii) 5 COMPOSITION OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES (2015-2016) Shri Hukum Singh - Chairperson MEMBERS LOK SABHA 2. Shri Radheshyam Biswas 3. Shri Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan 4. Shri Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria 5. Shri Tariq Hameed Karra 6. Shri B. Vinod Kumar 7. Shri Maganti Murali Mohan 8. Shri Sidhant Mohapatra 9. Shri Abhijit Mukherjee 10. Shri Rodmal Nagar 11. Shri Subhash Patel 12. Shri Sanjaykaka Ramchandra Patil 13. Shri Vijaysinh Mohite Patil 14. Smt. Aparupa Poddar 15. Shri Vishnu Dayal Ram 16. Shri S. P. Y. Reddy 17. Shri Ram Prasad Sarmah 18. Smt. V. Sathyabama 19. Shri Lallu Singh 20. Shri Liladharbhai Vaghela 21. Smt. Dimple Yadav RAJYA SABHA 22. Shri Balwinder Singh Bhunder 23. Shri Anil Madhav Dave 24. Smt. Naznin Faruque 25. Mir Mohammad Fayaz 26. Shri Sanjiv Kumar 27. Prof. Mrinal Miri 28. Shri V. Hanumantha Rao 29. Shri Amar Shankar Sable 30. Shri A.V. Swamy 31. Shri Lal Sinh Vadodia (iii) 6 SECRETARIAT 1. Shri K. Vijayakrishnan - Additional Secretary 2. Shri Shiv Kumar - Joint Secretary 3. Smt. Rita Jailkhani - Director 4. Shri Kushal Sarkar - Additional Director 5. Shri Ginsuanlian Guite - Committee Officer (iv) 7 INTRODUCTION I, the Chairperson, Standing Committee on Water Resources (2015-16) having been authorised by the Committee to submit the Report on their behalf, present the Fifth Report on “Review of Ground Water Scenario, need for a comprehensive policy and measures to address problems in the country with particular reference to (i) Dark Blocks; and (ii) Contamination of underground water by certain industries.” 2. The Committee (2014-15) took up the subject “Review of Ground Water Scenario, need for a comprehensive policy and measures to address problems in the country with particular reference to (i) Dark Blocks; and (ii) Contamination of underground water by certain industries” for a detailed examination and Report. The Committee took evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and Ministry of Agriculture on 27 January 2015, 16 February 2015, and 26 May, 2015. 3. The Report was considered and adopted by the Committee at their sitting held on 17 December, 2015. 4. The Committee wish to express their thanks to the representatives of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and Ministry of Agriculture for providing the requisite written information and for depositions made in connection with the examination of the subject. 5. The Committee would also like to place on record their sense of deep appreciation for the assistance rendered to them by the officials of the Lok Sabha Secretariat attached to the Committee. NEW DELHI HUKUM SINGH, 17 December, 2015 Chairperson, 26 Agrahayana, 1937 (Saka) Standing Committee on Water Resources 8 CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTORY Our country is endowed with a rich and vast diversity of natural resources, water being the most precious of them. Water is a part of the larger ecological system. Appreciating the importance and scarcity attached to fresh water, it has to be treated as an essential environment for sustaining all life forms. Availability of water is highly uneven in both space and time. Precipitation is confined to only about three or four months in a year and varies from 100 millimetre in the western parts of Rajasthan to over 10000 millimetre at Cherrapunji in Meghalaya. Rivers and underground aquifers often cut across State boundaries. However, water, as a resource is one and indivisible: rainfall, river waters, surface ponds and lakes and ground water are all part of one system. 1.2 Water security, water management and its development are of immense importance for all walks of human life and also for all living beings. Integrated water management is essential for environmental sustenance, sustainable economic development of the country and for bettering human life through poverty reduction. 1.3 While public investments since Independence have focused largely on surface water, over the last three decades, ground water has emerged as the main source of both drinking water and irrigation, based almost entirely on private investments by millions of atomistic decision-makers. Ground water is the backbone of India’s agriculture and drinking water security and is a common-pool resources (CPR), used by farmers across the country. It remains the only drinking water source in most of India’s rural households and many industries too depend upon it. 9 Over the last four decades, around 84 per cent of the total addition to the net irrigated area has come from ground water. India is by far the largest and fastest growing consumer of ground water in the world. But ground water is being exploited beyond sustainable levels and with an estimated 30 million ground water structures in play, India may be hurtling towards a serious crisis of ground water over-extraction and quality deterioration situation. 1.4 Apart from ground water depletion, the pollution of ground water due to industrial effluents and municipal waste in water bodies is a major concern in many cities and industrial clusters as well as areas on their periphery. A survey undertaken by the Central Polution Control Board (CPCB) in 1995 identified 22 sites in 16 States as critical for ground water pollution, the primary cause being industrial effluents. Recent survey undertaken by the Centre for Science and Environment from eight places in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana reported traces of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, zinc and mercury. The main contaminations in underground water which have been reported in the past are Arsenic, Fluoride and heavy metals, of which Arsenic and Fluoride are more alarming. 1.5 The Government of India has taken some policy initiatives