Conserving and Preserving Water as a Precious Resource - Safeguards and Legal Implications

Abstract

The unmitigated threat to the water resources is worldwide but it is  it is particularly severe in developing countries due to the presence of a large population, lack of finances and inadequate scientific expertise. In India, the problem of water pollution needs to be addressed urgently as several areas are poised to face severe calamities resulting fromeither the paucity of water in some parts or the total contamination of available water resources available to human settlements. It has been established that dealing with water pollution has not been adequately supported by legal redressal mechanisms because of which pollution control continues to be ineffective. Punjab State, the land of five rivers, is currently, urgently sliding towards the critical issue of water contamination through several levels of pollution. Being an agriculturally rich State, Punjab is heavily dependant upon water but the conundrum is that the agricultural practices have ended up contaminating the natural and manmade resources of water. It is therefore necessary to ascertain how far the existing legal mechanisms in India address the issue of water pollution, This especially relevant for States like Punjab  to analyse how effective the legal mechanism have been  in mitigating the formidable menace of  depleting contamination of vital water resources.