Can a Fee Curb Groundwater Exploitation? : Daily Current Affairs

Relevance: GS-3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

Key Phrases: CGWA, CGWB, PM Kusum, Mihir Shah Committee, National Water Commission, Water Quality Division;

Why in News?

Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has recently announced that Rs 10,000 will be charged as a registration fee for the extraction of groundwater for drinking and domestic use.
But would this charge be sufficient to halt the groundwater exploitation?

All the existing users are given a one-time opportunity to register their groundwater withdrawal by June 30.
The completed application must be submitted before September 30.
Strict action will be constituted against illegal extraction of groundwater i.e. those who are extracting without permission from CGWA

Water is a subject on the State list.
Yet, the Union Government has circulated a Model Bill to the States and Union Territories to enable them to enact suitable legislation for regulation and control of groundwater development.
So far 11 States/UTs have enacted Legislation on the lines of the Model Bill circulated by the MOWR (current, Jal Shakti Ministry).
As per the assessment carried out by CGWB (Central Ground Water Board), the following standards have been adhered to.

Stage of groundwater development is the ratio between annual groundwater draft and net annual groundwater availability.
- If it is above 100% then, we are extracting the groundwater more than what is being available in a year.
CGWB analysis of about 5723 groundwater assessment units, resulted in the classification of these units as
- Over-exploited - 839,
- Critical - 226,
- Semi-critical – 550
NAQUIM (National Aquifer Mapping and Management program) was launched by CGWB.
CGWA was formed under Environment Protection Act 1986.

India is the largest groundwater extractor
- In 2020, it extracted 64% of the total groundwater potential.
Most of the groundwater extraction is concentrated in a few states.
- States like UP, Punjab, MP, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat together accounted for about 59% of the total draft of groundwater.
Most of the groundwater extracted is used for agriculture purposes.
- 90% of groundwater extraction is for this purpose.
  - This is why the export of water-intensive crops like Rice is also called hidden water export.
- Area under irrigation from extracted groundwater has increased 7 times. (48 MHA in 2018-19 from 7.3 MHA in 1960-61).

Heavily subsidised electricity or Free electricity encourages users to exploit more groundwater as the marginal cost for extraction becomes zero for the user.
Electricity has been heavily subsidised in the state of Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu
- The average stage of groundwater development is 127% (2020).
  - This is defined as
- Number of safe blocks is also low.

Reduction in groundwater level.
- As per a NASA report (2009), Groundwater has been declining by 1 meter every 3 years in states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
Deterioration of quality of groundwater.
- Number of blocks qualified as safe has increased from 28% (2004) to 36% (2020).
- Number of blocks designated as saline has increased to 100 from 30. (2004-2020)
Number of Overexploited areas has increased.
- These are concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
- World Bank has cautioned that 60% of aquifers will reach the level of overexploitation by 2032.
Disproportionate effect on Small and marginal farmers
- As per Agri Census (2015), 86.5% of farmers are Small and Marginal. They have shallow tube wells which are more vulnerable to drying up due to overexploitation of groundwater resources.
- 5th Minor Irrigation Census (2017), a total of 4.14 lakh open wells in India became defunct between 2006-07 and 2013-14.
Extraction from deep aquifers increases the chances of getting contaminated by elements like Arsenic and Uranium.

Bring in discriminated fee instead of the current single charge of Rs 10K
- Utilize the ability-to-pay principle to charge proportionate fees on big farmers and the users who are more prone to extract more groundwater.
- This could be based on the type of motor used in tube wells/ quantity of water extracted.
- Small farmers using less than 5 HP pumps mustn’t be charged under this.
- This would have an effect on the choice of crops as well, with farmers selecting crops as per their agroclimatic zones.
Schemes like PM Kusum should be implemented across states.
- Solar-powered pumps save the exchequer from the huge subsidy burden on subsidised electricity.
- It would also check the indiscriminate extraction of groundwater.
Demand Side Measures
- Traditional Water Storing Techniques to meet the needs
  - Ahar-Pynes in Bihar, Mission Kakatiya in Telangana, Taanka in Rajasthan.
- Jal Shakti Mission to enhance water storing capacity.
- Atal Bhujal Yojana to rejuvenate aquifers.
Implement recommendations of Mihir Shah regarding groundwater
- Revamping CGWB and CWC (Central Water Commission) into the National Water Commission (NWC) for a unified approach to sustainable water management.
- National Aquifer Management Programme (NAMP) for mapping and management of aquifer systems in the country.
- Water Security Division to tackle water security.
- Water Quality Division to map the quality of aquifers.