The Water Act 1974: The Boards
Chapter Forty-Five
Syllabus topic 1, "Water"
Pages 187 to 191 of 885
In one line
The first modern Indian environmental statute, passed by Parliament with the States' own consent, and it works through two boards and one permission.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, was enacted under article 252 on resolutions passed by twelve State legislatures; it constitutes a Central Pollution Control Board under section 3 and a State Pollution Control Board under section 4; section 16 sets out the functions of the Central Board, section 17 those of a State Board, and section 18 gives the Central Board power to give directions to a State Board and the Central Government power to give directions to the Central Board.
Why the Act matters in this module
Because quantity and quality are one resource. A river that arrives unusable has not arrived. MU's short note on "Salinity of water" and her four papers naming Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India are both about water that exists and cannot be used.
And because of article 252. Water is in Entry 17 of List II, so Parliament could not legislate on water pollution for the States. It did so on resolutions passed by twelve State legislatures under article 252, and the Act then applied to those States and to any other that adopted it. That is the precedent for a national water framework law, and it is worth citing whenever a question asks whether such a law is possible.
The provisions
Section 1 gives the short title, states that the Act applies in the first instance to the States whose legislatures passed resolutions, and provides for commencement.
Section 2, definitions. "Pollution" means such contamination of water, or such alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of water, or such discharge of any sewage or trade effluent or of any other liquid, gaseous or solid substance into water, whether directly or indirectly, as may, or is likely to, create a nuisance or render such water harmful or injurious to public health or safety, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural or other legitimate uses, or to the life and health of animals or plants or of aquatic organisms. "Stream" includes a river, a water course whether flowing or for the time being dry, an inland water whether natural or artificial, a sub-terranean water, and a sea or tidal water to such extent or, as the case may be, to such point as the State Government may by notification specify. "Sewage effluent" and "trade effluent" are separately defined, the second meaning any liquid, gaseous or solid substance discharged from any premises used for carrying on any industry, operation or process or treatment and disposal system.
The Water Act 1974: The Boards
Notice two things in those definitions. "Pollution" is defined by effect on use, not by a chemical list, and it expressly includes harm to agricultural use, which is what a salinity claim rests on. And "stream" includes sub-terranean water, so the Act reaches ground water contamination.
Section 3, the Central Board. The Central Government constitutes the Central Pollution Control Board, with a full-time Chairman having special knowledge or practical experience of matters relating to environmental protection, officials of the Central Government, representatives of the State Boards, non-officials, representatives of companies or corporations owned or controlled by the Central Government, and a full-time Member-Secretary.
Section 4, a State Board. The State Government constitutes the State Pollution Control Board on the same pattern.
Sections 5 to 15 deal with the terms and conditions of service of members, disqualifications, vacation of seats, meetings, committees, the temporary association of persons, the saving of proceedings, delegation to the Chairman under section 11A, the Member-Secretary and the staff, and the constitution and composition of a Joint Board under sections 13 and 14 with the special provision as to directions in section 15.
Section 16, functions of the Central Board. To promote cleanliness of streams and wells in different areas of the States; to advise the Central Government on any matter concerning the prevention and control of water pollution; to co-ordinate the activities of the State Boards and resolve disputes among them; to provide technical assistance and guidance and carry out and sponsor investigations and research; to plan and organise training; to organise a comprehensive programme of mass media education; to collect, compile and publish technical and statistical data and prepare manuals, codes and guides for treatment and disposal; to lay down, modify or annul, in consultation with the State Governments concerned, the standards for a stream or well; and to establish or recognise laboratories.
Section 17, functions of a State Board. To plan a comprehensive programme for the prevention, control or abatement of pollution of streams and wells and to secure its execution; to advise the State Government; to collect and disseminate information; to encourage, conduct and participate in investigations and research; to inspect sewage or trade effluent works and plants for their treatment and to review plans, specifications and other data; to lay down, modify or annul effluent standards and the standards of quality of the receiving water; to evolve economical and reliable methods of treatment having regard to peculiar conditions of soils, climate and water resources of different regions; to evolve methods of utilisation of sewage and suitable trade effluent in agriculture; to advise the State Government on the location of any industry; and to perform such other functions as may be prescribed.
The Water Act 1974: The Boards
Section 18, directions. The Central Board is bound by such directions in writing as the Central Government may give, and every State Board is bound by such directions as the Central Board or the State Government may give; where a direction of the Central Board is inconsistent with one of the State Government, the matter is referred to the Central Government whose decision is final.
Broken down
Two boards, one supervising the other, and a reference upward when they conflict. That is the whole institutional design, and it is copied in the Air Act, 1981.
Standards are set by the Board, not by Parliament. Section 16 gives the Central Board the power to lay down, modify or annul the standards for a stream or well; section 17 gives a State Board the same power for effluent and for the receiving water. So the content of the obligation is administrative, which is what makes the consent in section 25 the operative instrument.
Section 17 contains an obligation that is easy to miss and is directly relevant to this paper. The State Board is to evolve methods of utilisation of sewage and suitable trade effluent in agriculture. Treated effluent is a water resource, and the East Kolkata Wetlands are the standing Indian instance of it being used as one.
And section 18 is where the federal tension sits. A State Board is appointed by the State and directed by the Central Board, and its funds come from the State. A Board that must inspect the State's own municipal sewage works while being funded by the State is the structural weakness of the whole system.
Worked example
A textile cluster discharges high dissolved solids effluent into a seasonal stream used downstream for irrigation.
Step one, is this pollution? Yes. The definition turns on rendering water harmful or injurious to legitimate uses, and agricultural use is named.
Step two, is the seasonal channel a stream? Yes. "Stream" includes a water course whether flowing or for the time being dry.
Step three, whose functions are engaged? The State Board, under section 17, to plan the programme, to inspect the effluent works, to lay down the effluent standards and the standards of the receiving water, and to advise on the location of the industry.
Step four, and if the State Board does nothing? The Central Board may give it a direction under section 18, and the Central Government may direct the Central Board.
Step five, what actually happened in such a case? Tirupur Dyeing Factory Owners Association v. Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association, AIR 2010 SC 3645, in which the Supreme Court held that the polluter pays principle and the precautionary principle have to be read with the doctrine of sustainable development, that the dyeing units, having polluted unabated, could not escape the expenses of reversing the ecology by removing the sludge from the river and cleaning the dam, and that they must compensate the farmers whose losses a committee had assessed; it gave them three months to make the common effluent treatment plants functional and to pay, and directed the Pollution Control Board to ensure that no pollution was caused.
The Water Act 1974: The Boards
Distinctions
| Central Board, section 16 | State Board, section 17 | |
|---|---|---|
| Standards | For a stream or well, in consultation with the State Governments | For effluent and for the quality of the receiving water |
| Co-ordination | Co-ordinates State Boards and resolves disputes between them | Executes the programme in the State |
| Inspection | Sponsors investigation and research | Inspects sewage and trade effluent works and plants |
| Advice on location of industry | Not its function | Its function, section 17 |
| Directions | Bound by the Central Government, section 18 | Bound by the Central Board and the State Government, section 18 |
What it does NOT mean
It does not mean the Act applies of its own force everywhere. It was passed under article 252 and applied in the first instance to the States whose legislatures had passed resolutions; others adopted it.
It does not mean the Boards own the water. They regulate discharges into it.
And it does not mean the Act is only about industry. Municipal sewage is the largest single source of water pollution in India, and section 17 requires the State Board to inspect sewage works as well as trade effluent works.
Quick revision
Enacted under article 252 on resolutions of twelve State legislatures. The precedent for a national water framework law.
Section 2: "pollution" is defined by effect on legitimate uses, including agricultural use; "stream" includes a dry water course and sub-terranean water.
Section 3: the Central Pollution Control Board. Section 4: a State Pollution Control Board. Sections 13 to 15: a Joint Board.
Section 16: the Central Board co-ordinates, advises, researches, publishes, and lays down standards for a stream or well. Section 17: a State Board plans and executes, inspects effluent works, lays down effluent and receiving water standards, evolves economical treatment methods and methods of using sewage and trade effluent in agriculture, and advises on the location of industry.
Section 18: directions, and a reference to the Central Government where the Central Board and the State Government conflict.
Test yourself
1. Under which article was the Act passed, and what follows? Article 252, on resolutions passed by twelve State legislatures, water being a State subject. It applied in the first instance to those States and to any other that adopted it, and it is the precedent for a national water framework law.
The Water Act 1974: The Boards
2. Does the Act reach ground water? Yes. "Stream" is defined to include sub-terranean water, so contamination of ground water is within the Act.
3. Who sets the standards? The Central Board lays down, modifies or annuls the standards for a stream or well in consultation with the State Governments, under section 16; a State Board does the same for effluent and for the quality of the receiving water, under section 17.
4. What structural weakness does section 18 reveal? That a State Board is constituted and funded by the State whose own municipal works it must inspect, while being bound by directions of both the Central Board and the State Government, with conflicts referred to the Central Government.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.