Water Act (Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974)

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 — universally called the Water Act — is the foundational Indian central legislation on water pollution, the first comprehensive environmental statute enacted by the Indian Parliament, and the law that established the institutional architecture (CPCB and SPCBs) that all subsequent environmental laws operate through. Notified on 23 March 1974, it preceded the Air Act 1981 by seven years and the Environment Protection Act 1986 by twelve.

The Act has eight chapters and 64 sections. Sections 3-4 constitute the Central Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Boards. Sections 16-17 empower these boards to set water quality standards, advise governments, and coordinate research. Sections 24-25 are the operative consent provisions: no person shall establish or operate any industrial plant that discharges sewage or effluent into a stream, well, sewer or land without previous consent of the SPCB — this single sentence is the legal foundation of every effluent CTE/CTO in India. Section 32 empowers SPCBs to take emergency measures including discharge of waters and prohibition of discharges in case of public health hazard. Section 33A (inserted 1988) empowers SPCBs to issue closure directions, stop electricity and water supply, or direct factories not to discharge effluent — the same provision recycling plants face when persistently failing TSS, BOD, COD or TDS limits.

The Act also created the Water Cess in 1977 (Water Cess Act, repealed in 2017 with GST rollout) — water consumption levy on factories to fund CPCB and SPCB operations. The repeal removed an important enforcement funding source, partly compensated by GST devolution and consent fees.

For recycling plants, the Water Act is the legal source of effluent treatment obligations: every plant generating wastewater needs an ETP (or STP for sewage) sized to meet Schedule VI effluent standards under the Environment Protection Rules 1986 (which derive their legal force from the Water Act and the EPA 1986 jointly), and SPCB-empowered inspectors can sample effluent at any time from any point on the premises without notice. Violations carry penalties of 1.5-6 years imprisonment plus unlimited fines under Sections 41-43, although criminal prosecution is rare — administrative action (closure directions, bank guarantee invocation, deregistration) is the more common enforcement tool. The trade-off the recycling industry argues is that the 1974 vintage of the Act has not been updated to recognise water reuse, ZLD, or constructed-wetland alternatives as compliance pathways, requiring rule-by-rule special notifications instead.