Water

1. Companies that use the natural resource for profit pay no charge or royalty for the raw water they use — only a nominal ‘cess’ varying from State to State (a few paise per kilolitre).
2. The BIS(Bureau of Indian Standard) has to ensure that any company or individual seeking quality certification for using groundwater as raw material has a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the CGWB(Central Ground Water Board)
3. The 14 States that have adopted the Central Model Ground Water Regulation Bill are free to give permission to beverages and bottled water companies for extraction of groundwater and more often than not, with little monitoring. For the States that do not have the Act in place, permission is taken from the Centre. Again, no permission is required or taken for drawing river, canal or natural spring water for bottling or use in soft drinks
4. Most water sources are contaminated by sewage and agricultural run-off.
5. Rising population, sprawling cities, and an enormous and thirsty farm belt have jeopardized a feeble, ill-kept public water and sanitation network.