Ministry of Water Resources

The Himalayas, an important part of the geography of India, extend along the entire Northern and North-Eastern boundary of the country. It spans six Indian States namely, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Sikkim and a major part of Arunachal Pradesh from west to east.

This document by Central Groundwater Authority provides a set of guidelines to evaluate proposals/requests for the withdrawal of ground water. This is done with the following objectives:

This document is a bill by Ministry of Water Resources is to amend the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) of 1974. The objective of this bill is to address the pressing problem of river pollution and increasing contribution of municipal sewage that is discharged to rivers. The objectives of the bill are:

This document is an annual report of Ministry of Water Resources. It gives an overview of the management of India’s water resources for the year 2011-2012.

The report is divided into following chapters:

The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is a policy document prepared by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change. It has been prepared keeping in mind that India's economic need to tap its natural resources needs to be tempered with the need to maintain ecological balance.

The restructuring is being proposed primarily to adopt river basins as the fundamental block for integrated planning, development and management of water resources in the country. 

The Dam Safety bill, 2010 introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2010 and approved by the cabinet earlier this year was referred to the Standing Committee on Water Resources, which was scheduled to submit its report within three months. The bill which is still pending seeks to provide for the surveillance, inspection and operation of all dams of certain parameters to ensure their safe functioning.

The table below provides a categorization of blocks, mandals, taluks and watersheds as overexploited and dark on an all India basis with respect to status of groundwater use and availability.

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Floods: In India, out of the total geographical area of 329 m ha., the flood prone area has been estimated as 45.64 m.ha. Heavy flood damages were experienced in the country during the monsoon of 1955, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1998, 2001 & 2004.

This site by the Ministry of Water Resources provides details of the groundwater quality scenario and the efforts undertaken to monitor groundwater quality in India.