Eyecatchers-157: Groundwater to be made public property

A new item with the above caption in the Chennai edition of The Times of India dated July 18, 2012 caught my eye.  The gist of the news is:

Groundwater, a precious natural resource, is for all practical purposes private property in India Anyone can bore and extract water with few rules to restric over-exploitation.

This may soon change.  Like oil, gas and minerals, groundwater may also become public property.  As 'water' is a state subject under the Constitution, both Centre and States have to enact law to make this happen. Reckless over-exploitation may lead to serious environmental consequences.

If you want to know all about groundwater, the following links may be of help.

For more info on Groundwater from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundwater

An Abstract of the Salient Features of GROUND WATER YEARBOOK OF TAMIL NADU STATE AND PONDICHERRY AND KARAIKAL REGIONS OF UNION TERRITORY OF PONDICHERRY (2005-2006):

http://cgwb.gov.in/secr/gwm_yb_2003_04.htm

GROUND WATER SCENARIO OF TAMIL NADU FROM CENTRAL GROUND WATER BOARD' SITE:

http://cgwb.gov.in/gw_profiles/st_TN.htm

Grateful thanks to The Times of India, The Central Ground Water Board and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.