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Glossary
Water standards and regulation

What is CGWA NOC?

Definition

A CGWA NOC is the no objection certificate India's Central Ground Water Authority issues before an industrial, infrastructure or mining project may extract groundwater, with conditions on metering and reporting.

Who needs one

Per the Ministry of Jal Shakti, CGWA regulates groundwater withdrawal in 19 States and UTs, issuing NOCs for industrial, infrastructure, mining and other uses under its Guidelines dated 24.09.2020. In the remaining States and UTs, State Ground Water Authorities issue permissions under their own rules, so the issuing body depends on where the site sits.

Conditions that carry numbers

The Ministry's March 2026 reply to the Rajya Sabha lists the main safeguards in the 2020 guidelines.

  • Installing water flow meters, maintaining them and submitting extraction data is a mandatory NOC condition; CGWA promotes meters with telemetry
  • Industries extracting more than 100 KLD must have a water audit done every two years by certified water auditors
  • No new industries may extract groundwater in over-exploited areas, other than MSMEs
  • Extraction charges follow slabs, higher in over-exploited, critical and semi-critical areas
  • Extraction without a valid NOC, or beyond the approved quantity, draws Environmental Compensation

Abstraction records per borewell

Aqueduct ingests telemetry from smart flow meters on each borewell or source and totals daily extraction against the quantity in the NOC, so drift toward the limit is visible weeks before a compliance return. For a 100 KLD plant, line-level data on process, cooling, RO and STP gives the water auditor attributable use rather than one inlet number.

Questions

CGWA NOC: common questions

A CGWA NOC is India's permission to draw groundwater for an industrial, infrastructure or mining project, issued by the Central Ground Water Authority under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. It names an approved extraction quantity and conditions such as flow metering and data submission. Aqueduct's role is metering, covered under aQ WaterGuard.

Several states model their own rules on the 2020 guidelines, but where a State Authority regulates groundwater, its rules and fees apply. Check which authority covers the site's district first, since the metering, audit and renewal conditions can differ from the CGWA version.

Environmental Compensation is charged on the quantity and for the duration not covered by the NOC, and CGWA can add penalties when other NOC conditions are breached. A daily extraction record per borewell lets a plant cut back before it reaches the limit instead of finding out at renewal.

A NOC is granted for a fixed validity period and must be renewed before it lapses, with extraction records and audit reports submitted as conditions require. Aqueduct keeps daily borewell totals and line-level use, so the renewal file and the water audit can be built from sub-metering by production line.

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