THE A.P. WATER LAND AND TREES ACT, 2002 An Act to promote Water Conservation and Tree Cover and regulate exploitation and use of Ground and Surface water for protection and Conservation of Water Sources, Land and Environment and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto

Constituting of the “Authority”  10 government & political representatives  3 professors  3 experts  Max 5 nominated  Member secretary - Sec Rural Development  Can ‘sue’ and be ‘sued’  Shall meet once in three months  Has a power of delegating authority to any officer for carrying out provisions of this Act

Ground water Protection  Drinking water source protection by regulating distance between wells  Registration of wells mandatory  Regulation of water extraction  Rain Water Harvesting - building approvals conditional  Re-Use of waste water  Water Contamination - Prohibition  Aquifiers – direct disposal banned

Surface water  Optimum use of irrigation water – vague  Lakes, Ponds & Tanks  Heritage bodies/conservation zone declaration ( Section 23[1]) to prevent conversion of their intended use  (None notified so far!)  Can remove encroachments and decide on permissible pollution levels  Permanent demarcation of boundaries  Designation of officer & Delegation of Authority (Section 25) – not done in appreciable numbers  Empowered to Evict  No liquid waste to be dumped

Penalisation Provisions – Water bodies  On Damage, alteration or pollution of a water body,  Encroachment of water body is an offence  Offence with imprisonment provision and/or penalty – very few instances of penalisation

Reality Contradicts the Act  Main violators are Govt agencies  Politics of FTL fixation  Municipal facilities provided- door numbers, electricity connection, bldg permissions, property tax collected  Violations of Land Use – conversion to parks, burial grounds, golf courses, memorials, commercial centers, parking lots etc

FTL Marking exposes rank violations

Hussain Sagar

Golkonda Lakes