Illegal Borewell in a Housing Society: Who Can Act?

A housing society or apartment complex that draws groundwater from its own borewells generally needs a NOC from the Central Ground Water Authority or the state groundwater authority, because the individual household exemption does not usually cover bulk use by a group housing project. If there is no NOC, the groundwater regulator and the District Magistrate can act, including sealing the borewell and levying environmental compensation. Inside the society, the general body decides whether to drill or keep borewells, and any member can object or complain. Before handover, the builder answers for borewells it drilled.

This guide answers a question that comes up in many group housing complexes across Delhi NCR and other cities: the society runs borewells because municipal supply is short, someone asks whether this is legal, and nobody is sure who has the power to decide. It covers the law for societies specifically, who can act inside and outside the society, the builder's position, and how a committee can put things right. For the wider law and complaint process on illegal extraction, see our main page on illegal borewells and groundwater extraction.

If your society buys water from tankers filled at private borewells, read water tanker mafia and illegal borewells, because buying from an illegal source creates its own problems.

The essentials

Our society runs a borewell without permission. Who can act?

Three sets of people can act, at different levels. Outside the society, the groundwater regulator, which is the CGWA through its regional office unless your state has its own groundwater authority, decides whether a NOC is required and can direct that unauthorised extraction stop. The District Magistrate, through the SDM and tehsildar, carries out sealing on the ground. If neither acts on a proper complaint, the National Green Tribunal can direct them to.

Inside the society, the general body of members is the decision-maker. Under most society bye-laws and state apartment ownership laws, the managing committee runs day-to-day affairs but major decisions about common facilities and capital spending need the general body's approval. A member who objects can raise the issue in the general body, ask for records, and, if the committee refuses to engage, complain to the registrar or the competent authority under the state law that governs the society or association.

And before handover, the builder. If the borewells were drilled and are being run by the developer, the developer is the user in law and answers for any missing NOC. After handover, the RWA or apartment owners' association running the borewells steps into that position. Knowing which stage you are at decides whom the complaint is really against.

Does a housing society really need a NOC for its borewell?

Generally, yes. The CGWA guidelines exempt individual domestic users, meaning a household drawing water for its own drinking and domestic needs, along with agricultural users and some small users. A group housing project that pumps water from common borewells into overhead tanks for hundreds of flats is a bulk user, and the guidelines generally require residential apartments and group housing societies to obtain a NOC. The same applies to the builder's borewells used during construction.

The NOC is not automatic. It depends on the area's groundwater category (safe, semi-critical, critical or over-exploited), the quantity sought, and whether the area is served by a public water supply. It comes with conditions: a tamper-proof flow meter on each borewell, recharge structures or rainwater harvesting, sometimes a monitoring well, and periodic reporting. In stressed areas the permitted quantity can be modest, and some authorities expect societies to use public supply where it is available.

Several states have their own groundwater laws that may require registration of every borewell, permission before drilling, or registration of drilling rigs. In those states, the state authority is the one you deal with. Rules change, so check the current guidelines and your state's law before deciding either way. Our guide on groundwater NOC exemptions explains what is and is not exempt.

Who can act, and what each can do

Why societies end up with borewells they should not have

Almost always, because the water supply promised in the brochure never arrived. Many projects in fast-growing areas were sold on the basis that municipal or development authority supply would be connected, and it was not, or it arrived at a fraction of the need. The builder drilled borewells for construction, kept them running for residents, and handed them over with the rest of the building. Nobody applied for a NOC because nobody thought of it.

In other cases a committee drills a new borewell during a summer shortage, often without a general body resolution, because tanker bills are climbing. And in some complexes borewells are used to top up the STP's reuse system or to water large landscaped areas, which uses far more water than residents realise.

None of this makes the extraction lawful, but it does shape the solution. Where the real problem is missing public supply, the society's strongest move is often to push the builder and the water supply agency to deliver it, while regularising the borewells in the meantime.

The builder drilled the borewells. Is the RWA now liable?

For the period before handover, the builder is the one who drew the water, and any environmental compensation for that period should be assessed against it. For the period after handover, the association that runs the pumps is the user, and the regulator will look to it. That is the same split that applies to STPs; see STP operating without consent for the parallel.

Large projects add a further angle. Projects of 20,000 sq m built-up area and above need prior environmental clearance, and EC conditions commonly deal with water: the source of supply, restrictions on groundwater use, rainwater harvesting and reuse of treated water. A builder who promised municipal supply in the EC application and then ran the project on borewells may be in breach of its EC conditions. That gives the RWA a lever with the SEIAA and, if needed, before the NGT. See EC conditions not followed and, for disputes with the developer generally, builder environmental violations.

At handover, an RWA should ask in writing for the details of every borewell, any NOC or application, and the water supply arrangement promised in the EC and sanctioned plans. If the builder hands over borewells without a NOC, record that in the handover minutes. It will matter later.

I am a member and I object to the society's borewell. What can I do?

Start inside. Write to the managing committee asking for the details of the borewells, any NOC or application, the general body resolution that approved them, and the water quality reports for borewell water supplied to flats. Members are generally entitled to inspect such records under the bye-laws. Raise the matter at the next general body meeting, or ask for a special meeting if the bye-laws allow members to requisition one.

If the committee refuses records, ignores the general body or drills without approval, the dispute is first a governance one. The registrar of societies, or the authority under your state's apartment ownership law, deals with that. Going straight to the groundwater regulator is your right, but it often turns neighbours into opponents, and the society may end up with a sealed borewell and no water. Many members prefer to press the committee to apply for a NOC first.

If the committee will not regularise and the extraction is plainly unlawful, a written complaint to the groundwater authority and the DM is the next step. Give the borewell locations, the absence of a NOC from your RTI reply, and the area's groundwater category. Advocate B.K. Singh's usual advice to members in this position is to put the request to regularise in writing first, because a complaint that shows the committee was asked and refused is taken more seriously than one that looks like a personal quarrel.

How an RWA can regularise its borewells

For a committee that wants to keep the water flowing lawfully, this is the usual sequence.

Papers to gather before anyone files anything

Rainwater harvesting and recharge: what societies are expected to do

Recharge is the other half of every groundwater permission. Building bye-laws in many cities require rainwater harvesting in group housing, EC conditions for large projects usually require it, and NOC conditions commonly do too. On paper most complexes have recharge pits. In practice many are silted up, sealed under paving, or connected to drains that carry sewage, which turns a recharge pit into a way of contaminating the aquifer.

Before applying for a NOC, have the recharge structures inspected and cleaned, check that only rooftop and clean surface water reaches them, and keep photos and maintenance records. A society that can show working recharge and reduced extraction is in a much better position with the regulator, and in a much better position if a neighbour or member complains.

Borewell water in the taps: the health side

A separate problem from legality is what the borewell water contains. In many areas groundwater has high dissolved solids, hardness, fluoride, nitrates or other contaminants, and near industrial areas or old dumps it can carry worse. Societies often send raw borewell water straight to overhead tanks and then into kitchen taps.

If the society supplies borewell water for drinking or cooking, it should test it regularly against the Indian drinking water standard (IS 10500) at an accredited laboratory, treat it where needed, and tell residents what the reports say. Members are within their rights to ask for those reports. Where tests suggest contamination from a nearby industry or dump, that becomes a pollution matter for the State Board and possibly the NGT; see groundwater contamination from industry.

What if the borewell belongs to a neighbouring society or a commercial complex?

If a neighbouring complex, mall or hotel is pumping heavily and your own borewells or handpumps are falling, you are an outsider with no say in its general body, so the route is straight to the regulator and the DM. Prove use: photos of the pump houses, tankers if any, and dewatering lines. File an RTI for the NOC and its permitted quantity. Point out your area's category and any fall in your own water levels, with records.

If the authorities do not act, a joint application before the NGT by affected RWAs carries more weight than an individual one. The tribunal can order a committee inspection, sealing of unauthorised borewells and environmental compensation. Our guide on environmental compensation for illegal groundwater use explains how such figures are arrived at.

The borewell has been sealed or a notice has come. What now?

Do not break the seal or move the pump to another borewell. That is a fresh violation and the quickest way to lose the regulator's goodwill. Instead, reply in writing at once, explaining the residents' water position, attaching meter readings if you have them, confirming that a NOC application has been or will be filed, and asking for a hearing and a time-bound interim arrangement.

Arrange interim supply lawfully: municipal or development authority tankers, or private tankers that themselves draw from permitted sources. Directions issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act can be appealed to the NGT under Section 16 of the NGT Act within 30 days of communication, with up to 60 more days for sufficient cause. An appeal is worth considering where a sealing order was passed without a hearing or on wrong facts, but for most societies a quick, complete NOC application achieves more than litigation.

Quick checks for RWAs and members

Mistakes societies make

The biggest is assuming the household exemption covers the society. It generally does not, and committees that rely on it are often the ones surprised by a notice. The second is drilling in an emergency without a resolution, which turns a regulatory issue into an internal dispute as well.

The third is replying to a regulator's notice by saying there is no other water. That explains the borewell but does not regularise it. A reply that attaches meter readings, a NOC application and a demand reduction plan is far more likely to lead to permission with conditions than to sealing. If a notice has already come, see how to reply to a CGWA notice.

The fourth is letting the builder off. Where the borewells exist because promised supply never came, the builder and the agency that was to supply water are part of the solution. In society matters Advocate B.K. Singh has advised on, the cases that settled best were those where the RWA pursued regularisation and the builder's obligations at the same time.