 bill no 269 of 2015 the rainwater (mandatory harvesting and collection) bill, 2015 by shri jagdambika pal, mp a billto provide for compulsory harvesting of rainwater in every residential, commercial establishment and government building in order to make contribution to the conservation of water and recharge of groundwater and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—(2) it extends to the union territories only (3) it shall come into force on such date, not later than one year from the coming into force of this act, as central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdeclaration52 it is hereby declared that it is expedient in public interest that the union government shall undertake adequate measures to harvest rainwater in the country for the purpose of water conservation and preservation of the existing water bodies from exploitationdefinitions3 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires:—10(a) "commercial establishment" means any building which is being used as an office or factory or for any other commercial purposes in connection with any trade or business;(b) "government" means the central government or the union territory administration, as the case may be;15(c) "government building" means any building occupied or being used by any or all government departments, ministries and includes the offices of public sector enterprises, statutory bodies or bodies owned and administered by the government and autonomous bodies, bodies of local self-government and residential areas of government employees provided by the government;(d) "groundwater recharge" means recharging of open wells or underground water, as the case may be, by various means by use of rainwater;20(e) "household" means a dwelling unit of any description; (f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; and (g) "rainwater harvesting" means collection and storage of rainwater from rooftop of a building or other parts of a building from which water can be collected or from a vacant land for use or for the purpose of groundwater recharge254 it shall be the duty of the government to ensure and implement such measures, as it may deem necessary and appropriate, to harvest rainwater in government buildings within such time as may be prescribedcompulsory rainwater harvesting in government buildings30compulsory rainwater harvesting by households and residential establishments5 (1) every owner or occupier of an independent household building having sital area of not less than 2400 square feet or every owner who proposes to construct an independent household building on a sital area of not less than 1200 square feet shall adopt such measures to provide rainwater harvesting structures for storage for use of harvested water or for groundwater recharge35(2) every developer and builder of residential apartment complexes, irrespective of sital area or number of apartments proposed to be built, shall adopt such measures to provide rainwater harvesting structures for storage for the use of harvested water within the apartment complex premises for purposes such as garden, flushing of toilets or for groundwater recharge(3) the responsibility to ensure compliance of the provisions of sub-section (2) shall lie with the developer or builder of the proposed apartment complex40(4) every existing residential apartment complex which, on the date of commencement of this act, does not have rainwater harvesting structures in place shall adopt such measures to provide rainwater harvesting structures for storage for the use of harvested water within the apartment complex premises for purposes such as garden, flushing of toilets or for groundwater recharge45(5) the responsibility to ensure compliance of the provisions of sub-section (4) shall lie with the association(s) of residents formed from within the residents and owners of the apartments in the said apartment complexexplanation—for the purposes of this section:—(a) "association of residents" means a group of people representing the interest of the complex in its entirety, either elected by residents and owners or chosen by a process mutually agreed upon by the owners and residents of the said complex;5(b) "builder" and "developer" means the company or individual or group ofindividuals responsible for the planning and construction of the apartment project including getting necessary approvals from government authorities and agencies for the project until its completion;10(c) "independent household building" means a single unit of dwelling on a siteof land including villas and houses; and(d) "residential apartment complex" includes multiple units of dwelling on a single site of land, irrespective of size and number of flats or number of people residing in these flats or buildings156 (1) every commercial establishment shall adopt such measures to provide rainwater harvesting structures for storage for use of harvested water within the  apartment complex premises for purposes such as garden use, flushing of toilets,  or for groundwater rechargecompulsory rainwater harvesting by commercial establishment(2) the responsibility to ensure compliance of the provisions of sub-section (1) shall lie on the person, by whatever name called, who is primarily responsible for the affairs of that establishment in the concerned premises of the establishment207 (1) the government shall take such measures, as it may deem appropriate, to educateand spread awareness among its own departments and  ministries, and the people about the benefits and importance of rainwater harvestingaction plan to educate the masses about rainwater harvesting25(2) the government shall take such measures, as it may deem necessary, to provideany or all kinds of assistance through advertisements and online portals to people or groups of people installing rainwater harvesting structures in their buildings(3) for the purpose of sub-sections (1) and (2), the government shall also associate non-governmental organisations and other such agencies or institutions working in this area and with relevant experience in such manner as may be prescribedpunishment308  any person or group of persons violating the provisions of this act shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with a fine which may extend to rupees two lakh or with bothact to have overriding effect9 the provisions of this act and rules made thereunder, shall have effect, notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force3510 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any otherlaw for the time being in forceact not in derogation of other lawspower to make rules11 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act40 45(2) every rule made under this act by the central government shall be laid, as soon asmay be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonswater shortage is being seen as one of the major challenge in the coming years, rainwater harvesting is more relevant today than it has been in the past a majority of the rainwater goes uncollected and runs-off into drains or rivers throughout the country by collecting even a small part of the total rainfall received by us, the scale of the problem of water scarcity and shortage can be brought down, if not eliminatedrainwater harvesting is already practiced in dry and desert areas where rainfall is collected and stored for later use this practice, which is being practiced for decades in areas of rajasthan, needs to be replicated throughout the countryharvesting rainwater for storage forms one part of the larger problem involving waterin our country, groundwater resources have been used for all kinds of purposes from agriculture through tube wells in farm areas to cities where groundwater is increasingly being used as the primary water source however, unregulated usage of groundwater has led to massive exploitation of this resource there are some areas where groundwater recharge through rainwater is one of the many solutions to this problem and perhaps one of the easiest solutionshence this billnew delhi;jagdambika palnovember 17, 2015 financial memorandumclause 7 of the bill provides for the government to spread awareness among people and its employees about the importance of rainwater harvesting the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees one hundred crore is likely to be involved as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupees one thousand crore is also likely to be involved———— a billto provide for compulsory harvesting of rainwater in every residential, commercial establishment and government building in order to make contribution to the conservation of water and recharge of groundwater and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri jagdambika pal, mp)