Chapter 1 PRELIMINARY

(1) This Act may be called the Nagaland Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2020. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Nagaland. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

The objectives of this Act are to ensure that groundwater is protected, conserved and regulated so as to: (a) Meet basic human needs and livestock needs, (b) Promote sustainable groundwater use in the public interest, based on a long-term protection of available resources. (c) Ensure that the protection, conservation and regulation of groundwater is integrated with the protection, conservation and regulation of surface water to ensure conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater. (d) Ensure the implementation of the principle of subsidiarity. (e) Protect ecosystems and their biological diversity. (f) Reduce and prevent pollution and degradation of groundwater. (g) Ensure that present and future generations have access to sufficient quantity and quality of basic water.

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires: - (a) "Act" means the Nagaland Groundwater Regulation Act, 2020. (b) "Appellate Authority" means the Nodal Department that is Directorate of Geology & Mining established under section 3 of the Act. (c) "Artificial recharge to groundwater" means the process by which groundwater reservoir is augmented beyond the natural condition of replenishment. (d) "Aquifer" is a geological formation that stores and transmits water. (e) "Drinking water" means water for consumption or use by human population for drinking and for other domestic purposes, which shall include consumption or use of water for cooking, bathing, washing, cleansing and other day to day activities and shall include water meant for consumption by the livestock. (f) "Exploitation limit" means such limit where the estimated annual groundwater extraction is more than 85% (eighty-five percent) of the estimated average annual groundwater recharge. (g) "Government" or "State Government" means Government of Nagaland. (h) "Department " means the department of Geology and Mining, Nagaland. (i) "Groundwater" means the water which exists below the ground surface in the zone of saturation and can be extracted through wells or any other means or either springs and base flow, in streams and rivers. (j) "Notified area" means the area notified under section 7 (3) of this Act. (k) "Official Gazette" means the Nagaland Gazette. (l) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act. (m) "Rain water harvesting" is the process of collection and storage of rain water at surface or in sub-surface aquifer. (n) "Royalty" means the royalty payable to the State Government under section 8 of this Act. (o) "Sink" with all its grammatical variations and cognate expression in relation to a well includes any digging, drilling or boring of new wells or deepening of the existing wells. (p) "State" means the State of Nagaland. (q) "User of groundwater" means a person or an institution including a company or an industry or an establishment, whether Government or not, who or which use groundwater for any purpose excluding domestic use. (r) "Well" means a structure sunk for the search or extraction of groundwater by any person, except by the authorized officials of the State or Central government, for carrying out scientific investigations, exploration, development, augmentation, conservation, protection or management of groundwater and shall include open well, dug well, bore well, dug-cum-bore well, tube well, filter point, collector well, infiltration gallery, recharge well, disposal well, or any of their combinations or variations for extraction of groundwater. (s) "Source of water" means the water which exists in the nallahs, wells, rivulets, rivers lakes, ponds, bore wells, tube wells, canals, springs, etc. (t) "Conservation" means to conserve forest, catchment areas, springs sources and any other structures that augment groundwater aquifers for sustainable hydrological cycle. (u) "Permit" means the permit for extraction and use of groundwater granted under section 9 of the Act. (v) "Safe yield" means the amount of water which may be abstracted from an aquifer at a rate that will not reduce the supply to such an extent that it would not be recharged to the original level by the annual natural recharging process of that locality and, as such, rendering such abstraction harmful to the aquifer quality of the water or environment.