Prepared by the Sub-Group* on a National Water Framework Law set up

by the Planning Commissions Working Group on Water Governance for

the Twelfth Plan
(* Ramaswamy R. Iyer, Chairman, Members: Philippe Cullet, K. J. Joy, K.
C. Sivaramakrishnan, Videh Upadhyay, M. S. Vani. Assisted by
Mahadevan Ramaswamy.)
THE
DRAFT
NATIONAL
EXPLANATORY NOTE
I.

WATER

FRAMEWORK

ACT:

AN

Why is a national water law necessary?

1. Water, like air, is one of the most basic requirements for life. If a
national

law

is

considered

necessary

on

subjects

such

as

the

environment, forests, wildlife, biological diversity, etc., a national law on

water is even more necessary. Water is as basic as (if not more basic
than) those subjects.
2. Under the Indian Constitution water is primarily a State subject,
but it is an increasingly important national concern in the context of:
(a) the right to water being a part of the fundamental the right to life;
(b) the perception of a water crisis because of the mounting pressure on
a finite resource;
(c) the inter-use and inter-State conflicts that this leads to, and the need
for a national consensus on water-sharing principles, and on the
arrangements for minimising conflicts and settling them quickly without
resort to adjudication to the extent possible;
(d) the threat to this vital resource by the massive generation of waste by
various uses of water and the severe pollution and contamination caused
by it;
(d) the long-term environmental, ecological and social implications of
efforts to augment the availability of water for human use;

(e) the equity implications of the distribution, use and control of water:
equity as between uses; users; areas; sectors; States; countries; and
generations;
(f) the international dimensions of some of Indias rivers; and
(g) the emerging concerns about the impact of climate change on water
and the need for appropriate responses at local, national, regional, and
global levels.
It

is

clear

that

the

above

considerations

cast

several

responsibilities on the Central Government. Some of these can be dealt

with only partially under existing laws such as the Environment
(Protection) Act 1986, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
1974, and others. On inter-State rivers there are (i) Entry 56 in the
Union List which enables the Central Government to act if Parliament
legislates for the purpose, (ii) the River Boards Act 1956 enacted under it
(which has remained inoperative), and (iii) the Inter-State Water Disputes
Act 1956 enacted under article 262 of the Constitution and amended in
2002. However, inter-State rivers and river valleys are not the same thing
as water per se, and adjudication is not the only thing that needs to be
provided for.
All the aspects enumerated earlier cannot be brought within the
ambit of the existing Central laws. Given the concerns set forth above,
the need for a national water law is self-evident. Such a law will not
preclude the further use of Entry 56, or the re-activation of the River
Boards Act, or amendments and improvements to the ISWD Act.
3. Several States are enacting laws on water and related issues.
These can be quite divergent in their perceptions of water. Again, under a
number of Projects and Programmes different States are undertaking
water sector reforms, and as a part of this they have formulated or are
formulating State Water Policies. Here again, significant divergences are
2

possible. Some divergences of policy and law may be inevitable and

acceptable, but they have to be within reasonable limits set by a broad
national consensus on certain basics.
4. Different State Governments tend to adopt different positions on
the rights of different States over the waters of a river basin that
straddles more than one State. Such legal divergences tend to render the
resolution of inter-State river-water conflicts even more difficult than
they already are. A national statement of the general legal position and
principles that should govern such cases seems desirable.
5. Finally, the idea of a national water law is not something
unusual or unprecedented. Many countries in the world have national
water laws or codes, and some of them (for instance, the South African
National Water Act of 1998) are widely regarded as very enlightened.
There is also the well-known European Water Framework Directive of
2000. The considerations behind those national or supra-national
documents are relevant to India as well, although the form of a water law
for India will clearly have to be guided by the nature of the Indian
Constitution and the specific needs and circumstances of this country.
6. It was the recognition of the need for a minimal national
consensus on certain basic perceptions, concepts and principles that led
to the adoption of the National Water Policy of 1987 and the NWP of
2002. Currently the process of considering further revisions to the
National Water Policy is in progress. However, a national water policy has
no legal status. A national water law is necessary.
II.

What will be the nature and scope of a national water law

in India?

1. The proposed national water law is not intended to centralise water

management or to change the Centre-State relations in any way. What is
proposed is not a Central water management law or a command-and3

control law of the usual kind, but a framework law, i.e., an umbrella
statement of general principles governing the exercise of legislative
and/or executive (or devolved) powers by the Centre, the States and the
local governance institutions.
2. No administrative machinery or institutional structure (except for a
national water Information system) is envisaged at the Centre under this
framework law, and consequently no penal provisions are envisaged. This
is not intended to exclude the necessary administrative machinery,
institutional structure and penal provisions in State laws within this
framework.
3. However, the law is intended to be justiciable in the sense that the
laws passed and the executive actions taken by the Central and State
Governments and the devolved functions exercised by PRIs will have to
conform to the general principles and priorities laid down in the
framework law, and that deviations can be challenged in a court of law.

III.

How will the law be enacted?

1. Given the present constitutional division of legislative powers between

the Union and the States, it will be necessary to follow the procedure
adopted in the case of the Water (Control and Prevention of Pollution) Act
1974, or more recently in the case of the Dam Safety Act 2010, i.e., a
certain number of State assemblies can be persuaded to pass resolutions
and then the Centre can enact this law. An Act so passed will be
applicable to the States that had passed the resolution and to other
States that adopt the Act. There is every reason to believe that most
States will adopt the Act, and that the Act will become truly national.
2. The alternative a more difficult route is to wait for water to be
moved to the Concurrent List first, and then get this law enacted by
Parliament.
4

3. As water is not in the concurrent List now, the draft proceeds on the
assumption that only the first route is available.
---------------------------------------------------

THE NATIONAL WATER FRAMEWORK ACT (DRAFT)

AN ACT to provide a broad overarching national legal framework of
general principles on water as a vital and stressed natural resource,
under which legislation and executive action on water at all levels of
governance, as also water-use and actions relating to water by citizens,
their associations and voluntary agencies, public and private institutions
and bodies corporate of all kinds, can take place, and for matters
connected therewith.

WHEREAS water is essential for the sustenance of life in all its forms; an
integral part of the ecological system, sustaining and being sustained by
it; a basic requirement for livelihoods; a cleaning agent; a necessary
input for economic activity such as agriculture, industry, and commerce;
a means of transportation; a means of recreation; an inseparable part of
a peoples landscape, society, history and culture; and in many cultures
a sacred substance, being venerated in some as a divinity;

AND WHEREAS water in all its forms constitutes a hydrological unity, so

that human interventions in any one form are likely to have effects on
others;

AND WHEREAS

water is a finite substance in nature, the same

quantum circulating through the hydrological cycle for millennia; and

water used for any purpose returns as waste or sewage or residue or
effluent, often in unusable form, and sometimes contaminating water
sources;
AND WHEREAS

freshwater is coming under increasing pressure

because of the growth of human population and the processes of

urbanisation and economic growth, leading to over-use/depletion, abuse,
waste, scarcity, conflicts, pollution, and overall unsustainability of the
resource itself and of the ecological system of which it is a part;
AND WHEREAS there are many different perceptions of and perspectives
on water among people, States and groups, leading to divergences in
approach, policy, doctrine, principle, law and institutional arrangements;
AND WHEREAS having regard to the foregoing it is desirable that there
should be a broad national consensus on certain general approaches,
concerns, directions, and principles, while leaving room for differences
from State to State and from locality to locality, so as to bring about the
prudent, wise, equitable, socially just, conflict-free, efficient, and
sustainable use of water for a number of purposes;
Be it enacted by Parliament in the year of the Republic of India as
follows:-

1. Short Title, Extent and Commencement

(1) This Act may be called the National Water Framework Act (2011?).

(2) It applies in the first instance to the whole of the States of..
and the Union territories; and it shall apply to such other States as adopt
this Act by resolution passed in that behalf under clause (1) of Article
252 of the Constitution.
(3) It shall come into force, at once in the States of and in the
Union territories, and on the date of adoption in any other State which
adopts this Act under clause (1) of Article 252 of the Constitution.
2. Definitions
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,
aquifer means a subsurface layer or layers of geological strata of
sufficient porosity and permeability able to hold or transmit water;
basin State means a State the territory of which includes any portion of
a river basin;
catchment, in relation to a river or stream or water body, means the
area, the water from which, in the natural course, flows into that river or
stream or water body;
common pool resource means a natural resource which, by its nature,
is such that it is available for use by all the members of a village or other
group or community, without exclusions of any kind, and the use of
which by any individual or group diminishes the availability for others;
common property resource means a resource owned in common by a
village or group or community, as distinguished from private ownership
or ownership by the state;
consultative means in consultation with the people or the community;
corporatisation means the conversion of a government body or agency
into a company or corporation;
full cost recovery pricing or full economic pricing means pricing a
good or service so as to recover all the costs, direct and indirect,
including both Operation and Maintenance costs and capital-related
costs, involved in the production and/or supply of that good or service,
without any concession or subsidisation or under-pricing of any kind;
7

good water quality status means water quality conforming to such

standards as may be prescribed for the purpose;
groundwater means water which exists below the ground surface in the
zone of saturation and can be extracted through wells or any other
means or emerges as springs and base flows in streams and rivers;
hydrological cycle means the water cycle from precipitation, through
surface runoff or the retention of water in the atmosphere or soil, or
seepage or percolation underground, on to evaporation from land and sea
or evapo-transpiration from plants, back to precipitation;
hydrological unity means the unity constituted by water in all its forms
including rainfall, snowfall, snow on mountains, glaciers, atmospheric or
soil moisture, groundwater, lakes, ponds and other surface water bodies,
rivers and streams, and wetlands;
livelihood means an activity or occupation or employment including
self-employment that provides sustenance to an individual or family;
participatory means involving the active association and involvement
of the people or the community in policy-formulation, project-planning or
implementation, or activity, scheme, programme, project or institutional
arrangements of any kind;
precautionary principle means the principle that advocates the
adoption of a cautious approach, including anticipatory preventive or
mitigatory action, towards an activity that holds the possibility of causing
harm to human beings or the environment, even if that possibility is not
fully established scientifically, with the onus of proving that there will be
no such harm resting on the proposer of the activity;
prescribed means prescribed by rules made under this Act, or, in the
case of water quality standards, under the Water (Prevention and Control
of Pollution) Act 1974;
privatisation means the transfer of a government body or institution or
a public enterprise to private ownership, or the transfer of a
governmental or public sector activity to a private body;
public trust means the doctrine that the state holds natural resources
in trust for the community;

river basin means the total area within which whatever precipitation or
runoff occurs will, except for evaporation, evapotranspiration and
seepage into the ground, eventually find its way to the river or one of its
tributaries;
State with a capital S means a State in the Indian Union;
state with a lower case s means state in the abstract, e.g., state as
distinguished from society;
state at all levels means the state at the three levels envisaged in the
Constitution, namely, the Union, the States and the local level of
panchayati raj institutions and nagarpalikas;
sustainable use or sustainability means the kind and level of use of
water or other natural resource that ensures the continued availability of
that resource for the present and future generations, without depletion
or deterioration or dysfunctionality, and the continued healthy
functioning of the related ecological system;
water as commodity means water considered as a substance or object
that can be traded, bought or sold;
water as economic good means water considered as a good that is
scarce in relation to wants and needs, can be put to alternative uses, and
has an opportunity cost or exchange or marketable value in some uses;
water as social good means water used for certain common or social or
general purposes and not for the benefit of particular individuals or
groups, for instance water for use in public hospitals or public
educational institutions or public parks and gardens, or for municipal
purposes such as firefighting or street-washing;
water footprint means the total volume of water used direct or in the
form of goods and services embodying water, by an individual or
community or country as a whole, or by an industry or business in its
production or other commercial activity;
water for life means the water required for human survival, including
drinking, cooking, bathing, personal hygiene, sanitation, and related
personal or domestic uses, with an addition for womens special needs;
as also the water required for survival by livestock and other animals and
birds, and by wildlife;
water-harvesting means capturing and conserving rainwater or
retarding run-off locally through various small-scale structures either for
9

the direct use of the stored waters or for re-charging groundwater

aquifers;
watershed means the ridge or line of high land separating two areas
such that rainwater falling on one side of the line drains on that side and
cannot pass to the other side; by extension, the area bounded by the
ridge; generally used to denote a small local area bounded by low ridges,
but sometimes also a large area bounded by high hills, including a riverbasin; and
wildlife means wildlife as defined in The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

3. Water: Heritage, Ecology, Equity

(1) (a) Water is a common natural heritage of humanity and shall be
used, protected and preserved as such.
(b) It shall be the duty of the state at all levels, the citizens, and all
categories of water-users, to protect, preserve and conserve all water
sources, and pass them on to the next generation.
(2) (a) Rivers, water bodies, aquifers and wetlands shall be recognised as
ecological systems in themselves and as parts of larger ecological
systems, and protected from

over-use/depletion, abuse, pollution/

contamination, and degradation.

(b) There shall be minimum interference in existing natural river flows; in
the natural state of water bodies and wetlands; and in flood-plains and
river-beds which shall be recognised as integral parts of the rivers
themselves.
(c) Rivers shall be protected from construction on their flood-plains and
sand-mining on their beds.
(d) Where river-flows, water bodies, aquifers, wetlands, flood-plains or
river-beds have already been interfered with, efforts shall be made to stop
further interference, and reverse the adverse impact of interferences
already made, to the utmost extent possible.

10

(e) The disposal of waste and discharge of pollutants and contaminants

into rivers, water bodies and wetlands shall be minimised quickly, and
stopped as early as possible.
(3) (a) As water is part of the ecological system and is dependent on its
healthy functioning, the protection and preservation of the integrity of
that system, its regenerative and assimilative potential, and its ability to
provide water, shall have overriding primacy in all policy and action
relating to water.
(b) The principle of sustainable use shall govern all categories of water
use.
(4) Water shall be recognised as a bounty of nature to be shared by
humanity with all other forms of life, with fellow humans of ones own
and other groups, villages, States and countries, and with future
generations.
(5) Ecological considerations, social justice and equity shall be the prime
principles governing water policy, plans and management, having regard
to the essentiality of water for life, its importance for livelihoods and
economic activity, and its proneness to become the subject of conflict.
4. Water as Sustainer of Life
(1) Water in its primary aspect as a sustainer of life shall take precedence
over water in any other aspect.
(2) Other uses of water, such as agricultural, industrial, commercial, and
others, though important, shall not be such as to jeopardise or diminish
the role of water as sustainer of life.
5. Water as Common Pool Resource

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, water, that is to

say, water in its natural form, such as river, stream, spring, natural
surface-water body, aquifer and wetland, is neither state property nor
11

private property but a common pool resource of the community to be

managed by the community or by the state for the community.
6. Water as Public Trust

(1) The state shall hold water in public trust for the people. It shall
exercise its legislative and executive powers in relation to water in the
capacity of trustee for the people.
(2) The ultimate responsibility of the state as public trustee shall remain
even if some of the functions of the state in relation to water are
entrusted to any agency, public or private or joint.
7. Water as a Scarce Resource
(1) Having regard to the growing pressure on the finite availability of
freshwater in nature, the prime principles governing water-use of all
kinds shall be equity, economy, efficiency, minimisation of waste,
resource-conservation, and ecological sustainability.
(2) The theft of water from public supply systems, the unauthorised
power-driven lifting of water from rivers, lakes and other water bodies
and from aquifers, and the pumping of water from river beds, shall be
prevented through stringent measures, while ensuring that such
measures do not have the effect of impinging on the right to water for life
assured in Section 10 of this Act or the social justice provisions of
Section 20 of this Act.
(3) It shall be the duty of the state at all levels, the citizens, and all
categories of water-users, to endeavour to reduce their water footprint at
every level, and thereby the water footprint of India.

12

8. Basin and Aquifer as Guiding Frameworks

(1) Every water-related activity in any part of a river-basin, or a subbasin of a large basin, whether it is a large project involving a dam,
reservoir and canal system, or a diversion barrage, or a small-scale local
water-harvesting structure, or the extraction of groundwater, shall be
undertaken with due regard to:
(a) the hydrological and ecological characteristics and features of the
basin or sub-basin as a whole;
(b) the land-use appropriate to the relevant area;
(c) the relationship between surface water and groundwater; and
(d) a holistic view of the relationships of all such activities with one
another and with the basin or sub-basin as a whole.
(2) The optimal utilisation of waters within a river basin shall be ensured,
with due regard to the reasonable present and future needs for life and
livelihoods, appropriate economic activity, social justice and equity, and
ecological sustainability.
(3) River-flows adequate to preserve and protect a river basin as a
hydrological and ecological system shall be maintained.
(4) (a) It is only after ensuring full conformity to the principles stated in
sub-sections (1) to (3) of this section, that any inter-basin transfer of
waters shall be considered.
(b) Such a transfer, if found necessary, shall be made only with the
consent of the parties concerned, and after due consideration of its
environmental, ecological, cultural, social and human implications, as
determined in an independent, objective and professional manner.
(5) The extraction of groundwater in any manner in any area shall be
undertaken with due regard to the hydrogeological and ecological
characteristics and features of the aquifer as a whole.
(6) In all water-related activities, due regard shall be had to the
relationship between the river-basin or sub-basin and the aquifer.
13

(7) Appropriate institutional arrangements, as elaborated further in

Section 14 below, shall be established to ensure coordination and
harmonisation at the basin level, aquifer level and between basin and
aquifer.
9. Water-use and Land-Use
(1) Water-use decisions shall have due regard to the land-use appropriate
to the relevant area, and in turn, the proper land-use for an area shall be
decided with due regard to the availability of water.
(2) In decisions on land-use for various purposes, due regard shall be
had to the protection of water sources, catchments, and drainage paths.
(3) Where water sources, catchments or drainage paths have already
been interfered with, efforts shall be made to stop further interference,
and reverse the adverse impact of interferences already made, to the
utmost extent possible.
10.

Right to Water

(1) Every human being, and livestock or other domestic animal or bird,
shall have the right to sufficient and safe water to meet the requirement
of water for life.
Note: The quantity and quality of water that is considered sufficient and
safe to qualify as water for life shall be as prescribed.
(2) The right to water for life shall take precedence over water rights, if
any, for other uses including agricultural, industrial, commercial,
municipal, and recreational uses.
(3) In the case of tribal and other communities dependent on traditional
natural water sources including rivers, streams, lakes, springs, and
others, the right to water for life shall include their right of access to
those sources.
14

(4) The state at all levels shall ensure the realisation of the right to water
for life, and monitor and review it periodically, through a participatory
and transparent process.
(5) In the case of wildlife, their access to their natural water sources and
the natural availability of water to them, shall not be adversely affected
by human actions, plans or projects.
11.

Priorities in Water Allocations

(1) In all allocations of water by governments at any level, or by any other

duly authorised body or agency or institution, public or private, the first
and over-riding priority shall be for water for life, followed by water
required for all other uses, viz., water for livelihoods for vulnerable
sections, water as a social good, and water for agricultural, industrial,
commercial, recreational and other uses.
(2) The inter se priorities

in allocations for different water-uses other

than water for life shall be as determined by the appropriate authorities

or agencies with reference to local circumstances such as local climate,
land and soil characteristics, water availability, prevalent activities and
livelihoods, and the land-uses indicated by those circumstances.
12.

Water Conflicts: Inter-State River Water Disputes

(1) Appropriate institutional arrangements, as elaborated further in

section 14 below, shall be established at all levels within the State and
beyond up to an inter-State river-basin, to obviate and/or resolve
emerging

inter-State

river-water

disputes

through

negotiations,

conciliation or mediation, or other such means, at the earliest stages

before the disputes become acute, so as to avoid recourse to adjudication
as far as possible.

15

(2) In such efforts, and in the event of adjudication under the Inter-State
Water Disputes Act 1956 (as amended in 2002) if it becomes necessary,
the following broad principles shall be kept in view.
(a) None of the States in a river-basin owns the river; all of
them have use rights.
(b) All basin States in a river system are equal in rightsstatus, and there is no hierarchy of rights among them, and
further, in this context, equality of rights means not equal
but equitable shares in the river waters, as stated in subsection 2 (e) of this Section.
(c) The upper basin-State shall adopt a cautious and
minimalist approach to major interventions in inter-State
rivers; provide advance information to the lower basin-States
about plans for intervention; consult them at all stages on
possible impacts; and take care to avoid significant harm or
injury to them.
(d) In an inter-State river system, all basin States shall
cooperate in good faith in the equitable, prudent and holistic
use of the river waters for the benefit of all.
(e) Where a State-wise allocation of the waters of an interState river becomes necessary, such allocation shall be
governed by the principle of equitable sharing for beneficial
uses.
(f) The principle of equitable sharing for beneficial uses
implies

that

the

upper

basin-State

shall

respect

the

legitimate needs and claims of the lower basin-State, and

that the latter shall recognise the legitimate needs of the
former, and further that the former shall refrain from
causing harm to the latter, and the latter shall not seek a
veto on upstream uses.

16

(g) The relevant factors to be considered for equitable sharing

in terms of sub-sections (e) and (f) of this section shall
include but shall not be limited to:
(i)

geographic,

hydrographic,

hydrological,

hydrogeological, climatic, ecological, and other natural

features;
(ii) the social and economic needs of the basin States
concerned;
(iii) the population dependent on the waters of the
inter -State river basin in each basin State;
(iv) the effects of the use or uses of the waters of the
river basin in one basin State upon other basin States;
(v) existing and potential uses of the waters of the
inter-State river basin;
(vi) the conservation, protection, and economical use of
the waters of the inter-State river basin;
(vii) the availability of appropriate alternatives to the
particular planned or existing use;
(viii) the sustainability of proposed or existing uses;
and
(ix) the minimisation of environmental, social or
human impacts of proposed uses.
(h) The weight of each factor mentioned in sub-section (g)
above shall be determined in each case in accordance with
the relevant circumstances of the case. In determining what
is a reasonable and equitable use, all relevant factors are to
be considered together and a conclusion reached on the
basis of the whole.
(i)

The sharing shall be only of water that is available for

sharing after the ecological functions of the river are

ensured.
17

(j)

In any settlement by agreement or adjudication on an

inter-State

river

waters

dispute,

the

principles

and

modalities of sharing the waters in a difficult year of low

flows shall be clearly laid down.
(k) Adjudication, wherever necessary, shall be pursued with
goodwill and a willingness to find an acceptable answer to
the dispute, including the possibility of an agreed settlement.
(3) The resolution of inter-State river-water disputes, whether by
agreement or by adjudication, is not a one-time settlement but shall be
recognized as a continuous process of conformity to the spirit of the
settlement, and ensuring this shall be among the responsibilities of the
institutional arrangements referred to in sub-section (1) of this section.
(4) Data of all kinds needed for the purposes of sub-sections (1) to (3) of
this section shall be freely shared by the States concerned and put in the
public domain for the information of all without any restrictions on the
grounds of confidentiality or secrecy.
13.
(1)

All

efforts

Water Conflicts: Other Kinds

shall

be

made

through

appropriate

institutional

arrangements at all levels to prevent a water-related dispute or conflict

from arising between or among different water-uses, or different groups
or classes of users, or different areas, and when a dispute or conflict
does arise, to settle it through negotiations, conciliation or mediation, or
other such means, before the dispute or conflict becomes acute, so as to
avoid recourse to litigation as far as possible.
(2) All such efforts shall be guided by the principles and priorities laid
down in Sections 4, 10 and 11 of this Act.
(3) Data of all kinds needed for the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2) of
this section shall be freely shared by the authorities concerned and put

18

in the public domain for the information of all without any restrictions on
the grounds of confidentiality or secrecy.
(4) The institutional arrangements envisaged in sub-section (1) of this
section shall be made at all levels and scales from micro-watersheds to
sub-basins or basins or aquifers, on the lines outlined in Section 14
below.
(5) Existing water-related conflicts or disputes shall be reviewed and
appropriate action taken in the light of the provisions of this Act.
14.

Institutional Arrangements

(1) The institutional arrangements envisaged in earlier sections for

(a)

basin-level,

aquifer-level,

and

basin-aquifer

coordination

and

harmonisation (section 8),

(b) ensuring the right to water for life (section 10),
(c) allocation and priority decisions (section 11),
(d) obviating and resolving inter-state river-water disputes (section 12),
and
(e) obviating and resolving other kinds of water-related disputes and
conflicts (section 13),
may be several parallel ones or one integrated structure as appropriate.
(2) (a) The institutional arrangements referred to in sub-section (1) of this
section, whether several parallel ones or one integrated structure, shall
be built from the village or micro-watershed level federating upwards in a
nested series to the sub-basin or basin level, with arrangements for
inter-State coordination in the case of basins spread over more than one
State.
(b) In designing the institutional arrangements, due regard shall be had
to harmonising administrative and hydrological divisions.
(3) At every level in the nested structures referred to in sub-section (2) of
this section, the institutional arrangements shall be representative of all
19

those concerned including, as appropriate, all categories of water-users,

government administrators and technical personnel, and academics and
experts outside the Government, and shall be fully participatory.
(4) (a) The institutional arrangements that are adopted shall have equity,
social justice, resource-conservation and ecological sustainability, as
their overarching concerns, and shall be guided by basin hydrology and
ecology in all their decisions.
(b) The principles of transparency and accountability shall be central to
the design and implementation of institutional arrangements.
(5)

Existing

institutional

arrangements

such

as

water-users

associations, village watershed committees, pani panchayats, and others,

including those which are being planned and those which have been set
up under other laws but are not yet fully operational, shall all be
reviewed to ensure conformity to the provisions of sub-sections (1) to (4)
of this section and other relevant sections of this Act.
(6) In particular, the need for a State-level Water Resources Regulatory
Authority and the nature of the regulation that is envisaged shall be
carefully reviewed in the light of sub-sections (1) to (4) of this section,
and if such an institution is found necessary, care shall be taken to
ensure the following:
(a) that it is a truly autonomous, professional, interdisciplinary body, with managerial, professional, mediatory
and adjudicatory capabilities built in;
(b) that it is truly consultative and participatory in its
composition and functioning, and that representatives of
civil society are associated with it at all levels and at every
stage;
(c) that it is decentralised in its own functioning and is also
consistent with the constitutional scheme of democratic
decentralisation; and

20

(d) that its mandate and functioning are in harmony with the
provisions of this Act.
(7) (a) The institutional arrangements shall conform to the principle of
subsidiarity, i.e., the principle that decisions shall be taken at the lowest
appropriate level.
(b) The appropriate level for decision-making shall be determined with
reference to the nature of the decision, the knowledge and expertise
needed, and the implications of the decision for other levels.
(8) In establishing institutional arrangements due regard shall be had to
the Model Bill for a State-level Water Regulatory System circulated by the
Central Government.
15.

Major Water Projects

(1) All large projects involving dams or barrages or other structures on

rivers to store or divert their waters for irrigation, hydroelectric power
generation, flood control, or other purposes, including run-of-the-river
projects, shall be guided by a cautious, minimalist approach, and by the
precautionary principle as regards their environmental, ecological, social,
human and other impacts and consequences.
(2) Strong and exceptional justification shall be needed to permit any
proposed interference with the natural flows of rivers by dams, barrages
or other structures on the river.
(3) A large project of the kind mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section
shall be selected only if, after an assessment of all options available for
achieving the objectives in view, such a project is found to be the unique
solution or the best of all available options in the given case.
(4) Least environmental impact and no or minimum displacement of
people shall be important selection criteria in the decision-making on
such projects. The options assessment referred to in sub-section (3) of

21

this section shall include non-displacing or less-displacing alternatives to

a proposed project.
(5) The decision on a project shall be based on the free, informed prior
consent of the people likely to be affected by the project in any manner,
and also on fully independent, professional, rigorous, comprehensive and
objective

Environmental

Impact

Assessment

studies,

including

cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment studies if there are

multiple projects on a river system.
(6) The people likely to be displaced or otherwise affected in any manner
by a project shall have the first claim on the benefits expected from the
project.
(7) The policies and measures of resettlement and/or rehabilitation of
people likely to be displaced or otherwise affected in any manner by a
project shall be such as to ensure the enhancement or at least the
maintenance of their earlier living standards and quality of life.
(8) Construction activity on a project shall proceed pari passu with
environmental

remedial/compensatory/mitigatory

actions

and

resettlement/rehabilitation measures, in the sense that progress on such

actions and measures shall determine the pace of construction activity
and that the latter shall not proceed ahead of the former.
16.

Groundwater

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, groundwater,

like surface water, shall be regarded as a common pool resource held in
public trust by the state.
(2) (a) Groundwater extraction shall be brought under regulation for
ensuring equity, resource-conservation, and water quality.
(b) Such regulation may be through various means as appropriate,
including control through the electricity tariff, the restriction of the
availability of electricity for groundwater-pumping for agricultural use to
22

a certain number of hours, and the community management of

groundwater as a common pool resource.
(3) For the purpose of the community management of groundwater, all
aquifers shall be mapped and delineated through a participatory effort,
drawing upon local, traditional knowledge, modern knowledge including
hydrogeology, engineering and satellite imagery, and the social sciences.
(4) Aquifer-users associations shall be formed for the sustainable
management of the aquifers and the conservation of the resource.
(5) The objective of programmes for the artificial recharge of groundwater
shall be to offset a part of the depletion that has occurred, and not to
provide more water for wasteful use.
(6)

In

establishing

institutional

arrangements

for

groundwater

management, due regard shall be had to the Model Bill for the
Conservation, Protection, and Regulation of Groundwater circulated by
the Central Government.
17.
(1)

Local Water Augmentation and Management

Decentralised

local

rainwater-harvesting

and

micro-watershed

development shall be the preferred route for water augmentation and

management, and shall be undertaken wherever technically and socially
feasible.
(2) In undertaking the activities referred to in sub-section (1) of this
section, due regard shall be had to the suitability of the location chosen
for structures, possible downstream impacts, and harmony with basin
hydrology and ecology.
(3) Such efforts shall be based on local community knowledge and
traditional wisdom as well as modern science.
(4) Customary laws which form part of such traditional wisdom and
practices shall be given due recognition by the state, provided they are
non-discriminatory.
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(5) Institutional arrangements shall be made and social sanctions used

(a) to ensure the prudent, economical, equitable and resource-conserving
use of the water harvested by diligent effort by the local community, (b)
to avoid or minimise disputes and resolve them when they arise, and (c)
to protect the harvested water from appropriation by some to the
detriment of others.
(6) Such local efforts and initiatives shall be inclusive, equitable and nondiscriminatory.
(7) The state at all levels shall formally recognise and encourage local
initiatives for rainwater-harvesting and micro-watershed development.
(8) Effective working relationships shall be established between the
informal community institutions for water-related activities and the
formal institutions of local governance, i.e., the Panchayati Raj
Institutions.
18.

Water Services: Corporatisation, Privatisation

(1) Water supply, being an essential service and a fundamental right,

shall be the responsibility of the state.
(2) If for any reason the state wishes to entrust this responsibility to an
autonomous or corporate body, public or private, this shall not affect
peoples fundamental or human rights in any manner.
(3) The states responsibility for ensuring peoples right to water shall
remain despite corporatisation or privatisation of water services.
(4) The privatisation of the service, if considered necessary and
appropriate, shall not lead to the privatisation of the resource.
(5) Considerations of profitability shall not override such social
conditions and obligations as are imposed on the autonomous or
corporate body as a part of the corporatisation or privatisation of water
services.

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19.

Water Markets

(1) Water markets shall not be encouraged to flourish and proliferate in

an uncontrolled manner, but may be allowed to function subject to
careful regulation in the interests of equity, social justice, resourceconservation and the protection of the aquifer.
(2) In particular, the bottled water and soft drinks industries shall be
reviewed to ensure (a) that the need for bottled water is reduced by the
better provision of adequate, safe and reliable water supply through
public systems; (b) that the industries draft of raw water from water
sources of any kind for processing is not such as to affect adversely the
availability of water for life or livelihoods in the community dependent on
the water source in question; and (c) that the disposal of process material
and waste or reject water does not have an adverse impact on the water
source or on the soil in the surrounding area.
20.

Water Pricing

(1) The pricing of water shall be based on a differential pricing system in

recognition of the multiple roles of water as fundamental right, social
good, economic good, and part of history, culture and religion.
(2) (a) Water used for commercial agriculture and for industry or
commerce is an economic good, and may be priced on the basis of full
cost recovery or full economic pricing, or higher if needed and
appropriate in a given case.
(b) Water used for subsistence or vulnerable livelihoods may be priced at
such rates as may be considered appropriate in the relevant socioeconomic circumstances.
(3) Water as a social good may be priced at such rates as may be
considered appropriate.

25

(4) Water as a fundamental right and a part of the right to life, shall not
be denied to anyone on the ground of inability to pay.
(5) For domestic water supply, a graded pricing system may be adopted,
with full cost recovery pricing for the middle-income and high-income
groups, affordable pricing for those below that level, and a modicum of
free supply to the very poor, or alternatively, a minimal quantum of water
may be supplied free to all.
(6) There should be prohibitive penalties to discourage profligate use, and
the service should be denied beyond a certain limit.
(7) The pollution of water sources and supplies should be severely
discouraged through the polluter pays principle, the payment by the
polluter being equal to what is required to restore the pre-polluted
condition, and it should at the same time be ensured that the principle
is not distorted to mean that payment authorises pollution.
(7) Decisions by the State Governments, local bodies (PRIs and
nagarpalikas) or other agencies on actual pricing systems and their
operation shall be broadly guided by the principles set forth in subsections (1) to (6) of this section, with flexibility for variations in the light
of the relevant circumstances.
21.

Water and Women

(1) The state at all levels shall take all appropriate steps to protect the
rights, interests, and special water and sanitation needs of women.
(2) The access of villages to nearby sources of water shall be improved,
making it unnecessary for women to bring water from distant sources.
(3) Women shall be full participants in all water-related institutions at all
levels, and their participation in such bodies shall be non-exclusionary,
with no reference to title to property or other restrictive criteria.
(4) The state at all levels shall endeavour to enhance the effectiveness of
the participation of women in all water -related institutions.
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22.

Water Quality and Pollution

(1) Subject to the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986

and Water (Control and Prevention of Pollution) Act 1974, the approach
to the prevention and control of pollution and contamination of water
sources shall include: (i) reducing water-use in all categories of use; (ii)
minimising the generation of waste in all water uses; (iii) recovering, to
the extent possible, water for some uses from waste; and (iv) ensuring
that nothing that does not meet certain stringent quality standards, to be
prescribed, is allowed to enter water sources.
(2) (a) In all water supply systems, rural or urban and public or private,
good water quality status, that is to say, water quality conforming to
such standards as may be prescribed, shall be achieved throughout the
country by (2020).
(b) Water quality in all rivers, streams, surface water bodies, aquifers and
other water sources throughout the country, shall be enhanced by (2020)
to conform to such standards as may be prescribed.
(c) The health of those rivers, streams, surface water bodies, aquifers and
other water sources throughout the country that are heavily polluted
and/or contaminated shall be restored by (2020) through special
programmes.
23.

Drought

(1) The answer to the problems of water-short, arid or drought-prone

areas shall be primarily local, and it is only after exploring all local
possibilities, or determining that there are no such possibilities, that
recourse to water from external sources may be considered.

27

(2) In drought-prone or arid areas, the pursuit of economic development

shall be primarily through routes other than water-intensive industry or
agriculture.
24.

Floods

(1) In relation to periodical river floods, the emphasis shall shift from
structural flood-control measures to the following approach:
(a) learn to live with periodical river floods and minimise loss and
damage;
(b) ensure that land-use practices are such as to minimise and not
aggravate the adverse impact of floods;
(c) install adequate and timely advance warning systems;
(d) be ready with disaster avoidance and management plans;
(e) learn relevant lessons from traditional coping practices;
(f) if dams are built for flood moderation among other purposes,
ensure that a flood cushion is built in and actually maintained;
(g) as

far

as

possible,

refrain

from

confining

river

within

embankments; and
(h) make flood control and embankment projects, if any, subject to the
requirement of Environmental Impact Assessment studies under
the Environment Protection Act 1986 and the EIA Notifications
thereunder.
(2) A vast, well-equipped, technologically advanced network of stations
for observing and analysing precipitation and flows and drawing
conclusions, and for the instant (`real time) communication of such
information and predictions to downstream areas, shall be established
by expanding existing facilities and enhancing their quality and
technological status.

28

(3) Timely information is necessary but not enough; it shall be

followed by prompt, adequate, equitable, efficient and humane
response.
(4) The thrust of the relief programme shall be, not to reduce people to
a state of dependence, but to enhance their ability to help themselves.
(5) Potential or actual conflicts in the context of dealing with floods or
administering flood-relief measures, arising between upstream and
downstream areas within a State, or between upstream and
downstream States, shall be obviated or minimised or resolved by
consultations

in

advance,

timely

sharing

of

information,

and

cooperative or joint efforts and institutional arrangements.

(6) Interferences with natural channels and drainage paths that result
in the blocking of storm water drainage and cause or aggravate urban
floods shall be avoided.
25.

Climate Change and Water

While further studies and research may be needed for obtaining detailed,
precise and area-specific information on the impact of climate change on
water resources, and on the vulnerabilities of certain areas and
settlements such as coastal or low-lying areas, anticipatory action for
mitigation and adaptation need not wait for those studies, but shall be
taken in hand immediately.
26.

National Water Information System

(1) To design and build an excellent, nation-wide, detailed, professional

water information system, a National Water Information Agency (NWIA)
shall be set up.

29

(2) The water information system shall have close linkages with the other
related information systems, such as those relating to meteorology, land,
forests, agriculture, tribal communities, industries, etc.
(3) All water-related information shall be open and accessible to all, and
shall not be denied to anyone on the grounds of confidentiality or
secrecy.
27.

Existing Water-related Legislation and Reforms

(1) All existing water-related laws at the Central and State levels shall be
reviewed and amended where necessary to ensure conformity to the
provisions of this Act.
(2) All water-related reforms already initiated and those that are about to
be undertaken shall be reviewed in the light of the provisions of this Act
and the necessary changes made to ensure conformity to those
provisions.
28.

Compliance, Deviations and Remedies

(1) (a) Water-related legislation and/or executive orders or action by the

state at all levels, as also water-use and actions relating to water by
citizens, their associations and voluntary agencies, public and private
institutions and bodies corporate of all kinds, shall conform to the
provisions of this Act.
(b) The NWIA referred to in section 26 of this Act shall also monitor the
state of compliance with the principles laid down in this Act and submit
reports to the state at all levels.
(2) The state at all levels shall ensure the availability of effective
administrative and legal remedies for those whose legal rights under this
Act have been violated, and for those who suffer or are under a serious
30

threat of suffering damage arising from programs, plans, projects, or

activities relating to water.
(3)

Remedies under this Section shall, as appropriate, provide for

preventive measures to obviate damage to persons, property, the

environment or the ecological system arising from non-compliance with
or deviations from the provisions of this Act; in the event of such noncompliance or deviation, penalties for the same, and/or compensation for
the consequences; criminal prosecution of offenders; and any other
appropriate remedy in accordance with the provisions of any other law
for the time being in force.
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