'Water credits' for India Inc on cards

The government is also expected to outline a water regulatory body — National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (NBWUE) — and tax incentives/benefits for industries that subject themselves to water audit in a time-bound manner soon.

“The ground work and the base studies on water usage by various industries is getting finalised. There is a strong possibility of its mention in the Budget,” said a senior functionary of the joint industry task force looking at enforcing efficient usage of water resources.

The water credit can be defined as a certificate showing that a government department, company, individual or industry has saved certain amount of water during particular activity or production process or domestic use. Under the system of water credit, industries will get the permit to use additional 1,000 liters of water (or quantities finalised by NBWUE) that can also be “traded in the international market at their current market price”.

The idea of water credit comes at a time when there's increasing awareness of the need to control water wastage. According to an internal note, industries or consumers that have not used up their quota of water can sell their unused allowances as water credits, while businesses that are about to exceed their quota can buy the extra allowances as credits, privately or from the

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