26^th August 2019

Topic:- Geography & Polity.

News:- State to have groundwater regulatory authority soon.

Context:- The state is all set to have a groundwater regulatory authority to fix and regulate the water that can be drawn from the ground. The authority will also determine the water tariff and charges on a volumetric basis.

How this body will help?

• Once the authority is set up, all users will have to pay for using water, based on a more scientific calculation, rather than the flat charges.
•  A distinction will be made in pricing and cross-subsidisation of water for drinking, irrigation, industrial and commercial purposes.

Report findings:-

• A draft report of the Central Ground Water Board (North-Western region), released recently, had pointed out that at the current rate of extraction, all available groundwater resources till the depth of 300 m in Punjab, would end in the next 20-25 years. Underground water recharging is 21.58 billion cubic metres, while the gross water withdrawal is 35.78 billion cubic metres in the state.

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