STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Off late, the Kamrup (M) district authority prevails over the unauthorized extraction of groundwater. It has, however, woken up to stop the menace after much damage.
According to the Central Groundwater Board, the fall in water level of around 60 per cent of wells in the state is unprecedented. The situation in Guwahati is the worst.
The district authority has made it clear that nobody can extract groundwater in any form, including boring, without permission from the Central Groundwater Board.
The Central Groundwater Authority's notification regarding NOC says that micro and small enterprises drawing less than 10 KLD (kilolitres) per day get exemption from NOC. Those who draw groundwater for domestic use and for agricultural purposes also get exemption from NOC.
Official sources said that the guidelines lack clarity regarding apartment owners and industries that have bore wells from the past. "We will meet to take decisions on this issue shortly," an official source said.
The parties needing NOC for extracting groundwater need to apply to cgwa-nic.gov.in. If they want to apply manually, they need to go to the Central Groundwater Board office situated at bye-lane 1, Satsang Vihar, Bhangagarh, Guwahati or Central Groundwater Commission office, Betkuchi, opposite ISBT, Guwahati.
Rainwater harvesting is still a non-starter in most of the apartments in Guwahati and other parts of the state. Instead of harvesting roof-top rainwater, they mostly rely on deep boring. This practice leads to groundwater depletion in the households dotted around apartments. Most of the apartment owners concretize their landed areas. It prevents the natural infiltration of water under the ground.
Individuals, builders and various societies extract groundwater unscientifically and haphazardly without permission in urban areas.
A section of people in Guwahati does a roaring business by selling water. They extract groundwater rampantly through unauthorized bore wells under the very nose of the district authority. Off late, the district authority seems to have woken up to prevent the menace.
The authority made harvesting roof-top rainwater mandatory in the building bye-laws for apartments and high-rise buildings in 2020 only. The bye-law also has provisions to ensure the natural infiltration of water to the ground.
A source connected to building construction said, "The government should have brought the rainwater harvesting provision in the building bye-laws a decade ago. That could have prevented the damage to the groundwater level to an extent. All new apartments coming up in the state adhere to this provision. A GMDA cell monitors this provision in all new building construction sites."
A source in the district authority said, "We received public complaints regarding illegal and unauthorized extraction of groundwater. They sell the extracted water without any treatment. We have issued an order to prevent people from extracting groundwater without permission."
Some say the problem of illegal groundwater extraction would not have arisen had the government supplied treated water to the people, especially in urban areas. The four major water supply schemes in Guwahati have not seen the light of the day for the past ten years. Since water is essential for life, people will continue to extract it from the ground in every possible way.
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