Groundwater Management under the Indian Legal Framework: Challenges and the Way Forward

Abstract

About 89 per cent of the world's fresh water resources are found in groundwater, but over the past few decades, groundwater extraction has dramatically increased, having a detrimental effect on aquifers. India is the biggest users of groundwater in the World, over 230 cubic kilometers of groundwater is used per year. As a result, more and more aquifers are being exploited to an unsustainable level, and the nation frequently experiences drinking water shortages. This article focuses on the groundwater laws that apply in India. It also examines legal approaches in groundwater law and its challenges in this contemporary India where groundwater is a dwindling resource. Further this paper highlights the measures taken by the central government in order to protect groundwater resources and argues that the existing framework governing groundwater is based largely on principles developed during the 19th century. In the light of this, the author argues that a new set of principles should be established that acknowledge the shared nature of groundwater and the human right to water, as failing to do so will violate the right to access water, and in turn, the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. Therefore, there is an urgent need to change the current situation.