Gurgaon: The National Green Tribunal ( NGT ) has directed a high-level committee to review the policy permitting supply of groundwater and canal water for commercial purposes in the city, and restricted further commecial use of such water.The directive came after RTI activist Harinder Dhingra filed a petition in the NGT, alleging that the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (earlier known as Huda) illegally permitted commercial use of drinking water in an amusement (water) park in Sector 29 The petition also claimed that the the amusement park authorities illegally installed tubewells to extract groundwater for commercial use. According to sources, the amusement park uses approximately 4,00,000 litres of water or more every day.The NGT order, whose copy has been accessed by TOI, has also instructed the committee to find out if water from rivers is supplied for commercial use to the amusement park.In its order, the green tribunal also referred to the TOI report — 4 crore litres groundwater drawn illegally everyday in Gurugram — published on June 6, 2017.“Water from canal has been diverted by Huda for use for commercial purposes without any study on whether such diversion will affect the eco-system of the canal… We direct (the committee) to review the existing policy of permitting supply of water for commercial purposes, when there is scarcity of drinking water, and whether the water is being diverted from the river supply for commercial use, without affecting environmental flows. Decision may be taken within two months from today,” stated the order, which was passed on March 25.The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been made a nodal agency in the matter. Meanwhile, the high-level committee, constituted by the NGT and including representatives of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), CPCB, Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) and the district magistrate of Gurgaon, has recommended that the park’s operators explore the possibility of using treated waste water after making sure that the water’s quality parameters are within prescribed limits.The committee has also recommended constituting a State Ground Water Authority (SGWA) in Haryana.“The committee recommended that sewage treated water may be provided and canal water supply may be disconnected, recharge of water be increased, diversion of drinking water for commercial purposes be discouraged, water park operators may use treated water”, according to the order.Moreover, the committee has given detailed long-term and short-term strategies for proper monitoring of e-flow (environmental flow — maintaining the quantity, timing, and quality of water flow required to sustain freshwater, estuarine ecosystems and human livelihood), and revival of water sources in the city.While the short-term strategies should be implemented within three months, long-term strategies are to be implemented within nine months.“I am glad that the committee (appointed by NGT) has not only restricted the commercial use of groundwater and canal water but also given recommendations to maintain environmental flow, revive village ponds, strengthen wastewater systems and revive local freshwater resources. Both the long-term and short-term strategies have to be implemented in a time-bound manner and will go in a long way in groundwater recharge and proper management of fresh water resources,” said petitioner Harinder Dhingra.Gurgaon has already been marked as a ‘dark zone’ by the CGWA. ‘Dark zone’ refers to an area where groundwater level has fallen beyond a prescribed limit.Over the past 20 years, the groundwater level has declined in the entire district and the rate of decline is 0.77 to 1.2metre/year.According to a CGWA report, the stage of ground water development in Gurgaon is 209%, which means that the net annual withdrawal is more than the net annual recharge. The green tribunal has listed the matter for further consideration on July 8, 2019.

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