The Punjab Water Regulatory and Development Authority (PWRDA) has generated nearly ₹110 crore in the 2025-26 fiscal year by imposing a surcharge on 1,733 industrial units consuming 3lakh litres of water every month, officials said.
The industries brought under the PWRDA ambit are bottling plants, distilleries, paper units, textile and dyeing units and sugar mills.
“Similarly, a sum of ₹116 crore was generated in the 2024-25 financial year when the authority started collecting the revenue from industrial users. Nearly 500 more industrial units are in the pipeline, which will bring more revenue for the authority,” said Rajesh Vashisht, PWRDA’s technical adviser.
Vashisht added that the revenue generated is being spent on the conservation of sub-soil and surface water.
“The funds generated go into the state treasury and soil and water conservation and water resources departments, and the Punjab water resources management and development corporation uses these funds for water conservation works,” he said.
With these funds, tertiary water channels are being developed, and so far 8 lakh hectares of agriculture land have been covered by laying underground pipelines, Vashisht said.
He added that the sources of potable water for army cantonments, religious bodies, for agricultural purposes and industries with consumption up to 3lakh litres are free from any surcharge.
“We are charging more from the industry in the orange zone, where overall exploitation of subsoil water is more than 200% as compared to the recharge, followed by the yellow zone where usage is up to 200% and lesser in the green zone where usage and recharge are equivalent,” Vashisht said.
According to Karan Avtar Singh, first chairman of the authority who superannuated last year, the initiative began in 2020 began and is now bearing fruit.
“The water usage in the industry is being regulated, and revenue is also flowing in, which is funding the water conservation works. Earlier, the central groundwater authority is regulating the resources, but since it became a state subject, state law was constituted in 2020,” he said.
Present chairman VK Singh said that PWRDA is starting two projects each in Mohali and Ludhiana to conserve flood water, and pilots are underway in the 18 clusters of Sunam and Barnala blocks to regulate usage of water for irrigating paddy fields, and this has helped save 25-30% water.
