(1) This Act may be called the Uttarakhand Ground Water (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act,
2016.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Uttrakhand.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the state Government may by notification, in the Official Gazette, appoint.
Act to have overriding effect
2. The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Kumoun and Garhwal Water (Collection, Retention and Distribution) Act, 1975 and Uttrakhand Water Management and Regulatory Act, 2013 or in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act.
Definitions 3. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) “Act” means the Uttarakhand Pradesh Ground Water (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2016;
(b) “artificial recharge to ground water” means the process by which ground water reservoir is augmented beyond the natural condition of replenishment;
(c) “Authority” means the Uttarakhand Pradesh Ground Water Authority established under section 3 of the Act ;
(d) “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 ;
----------------------------------------- Repeal- Repeal by section 2 of UK Act no 11 of 2017.
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(e) “Government” means the Government of Uttarakhand ;
(f) “ground water” 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 emerges as springs and base flows in streams and rivers;
(g) “Municipalities” means an institution of self Government constituted under Article 243Q of the Constitution of India;
(h) “Panchayat” means an institution of self Government constituted under Article 243 B of the Constitution of India;
(i) “ Prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(j) “Rain water harvesting” means the process of collection and storage of rain water at surface or in sub surface aquifer;
(k) “Royalty” means the royalty payable to the authority under section 12 of this Act;
(l) “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;
(m) “User of ground water” means a person or an institution including a company or an industry or an establishment or a society, whether Government or not, who or which use ground water for any purpose;
(n) “Structure” means any structure constructed for the search or extraction of ground water by any person, except the authorized officials of the State or Central Government for carrying out scientific investigations, exploration, development, augmentation, conservation, protection or management of ground water, this will 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 or any mean by which ground water, springs or surface water is tapped except any manually operated device for extraction of ground water.
Establishment of a Ground Water Authority