National Water Policy

National Water Policy

National Water Policy was formulated in  1987 by the Ministry of Water Resources of the Government of India, to govern the planning and development of water resources and theiroptimum utilization. 

The policy was based on principles of conservation, protection, management and regulation of the vital and stressed natural resource, which incorporated legislative and executive actions on various levels of governance on water resource.

Laying down the national water policy and to review it from time to time, is among the key roles of NWRC. The NWRC adopted the first National Water Policy in September 1987. It was drafted by the Ministry of Water Resource (MoWR) with an emphasis on domestic water supply, protection of groundwater sources and water quality monitoring and mapping. Drinking water was given first priority under this policy.

in  1994 the 73rd Constitutional Amendment came into being which makes provision for assigning the responsibility of providing drinking water to the Panchayati Raj Institution.

in 1999 formation of separate department of drinking water supply in the ministry of rural development, Government of India. Reforms in the rural drinking water sector were adopted in 1999 through Sector Reform Project (SRP) on pilot basis. The project incorporated the community in planning, implementation and management of drinking water-related schemes.

in 2002 The revised and updated National Water Policy-2002 was adopted by the National Water Resources Council on 1st April 2002. The policy emphasized on artificial recharge of ground water, water conservation in house and traditional conservation programme with roof top conservation, desalinization of brackish water in coastal region to convert it into fresh water using low temperature technique and traditional methods of recharging ground water.

It scaled up the Sector Reform Pilot Project to the whole country in the form of Swajaldhara Programme for National Drinking Water Supply. The programme is a paradigm shift from supply driven to demand driven, centralized to decentralized implementation and Government's role from service provider to facilitator. 

It was linked to Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) programme and provide safe water to villages that did not have adequate sources of safe water. It also tried to improve the level of service for villages classified as only partially covered. 

In villages, hand pumps were financially incentivized. The fundamental reform principles inSwajaldharaare adhered to by the State Governments and the Implementing Agencies in terms of adoption of a demand-responsive approach with community participation. The management of water supply and sanitation schemes became the responsibility of Panchayati Raj and local government bodies.

 An important element of this programme was to contribute to the cost of providing safe drinking water. During this period NWP was also linked to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under which the proportion of people without sustainable access of safe water were also targeted. It gave attention for the first time to other aspects of water allocation, which includes environmental and ecological.

The 2002 policy also has several debatable elements and a number of positive changes that were not present in earlier policy. But, these elements still, were not adequate to resolve and prepare ground that can tune in with 21st century’s management of water resource.

2005: India launches the Bharat NirmanProgrammewith emphasis on providing drinking waterwithin a period of 5 years.