Borewell Permission in Haryana: HWRA NOC, Rules and Dark Zones (2026)

Since 2020, groundwater in Haryana has been regulated by the Haryana Water Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority, usually called HWRA. If you run a business, an institution or a housing society that draws groundwater, you almost certainly need its permission, called a No Objection Certificate (NOC). If you are a household drawing water for your own use, you probably do not.

This post sets out who needs an NOC, who is exempt, what changes in a dark zone, and what the permission obliges you to do. It is a plain-language summary, not legal advice: the rules and fees are on the HWRA website, and they change.

Who needs an HWRA NOC

HWRA groups groundwater users into three categories, and each applies online under its own:

• Industry: factories and industrial units of any size that draw groundwater.
• Infrastructure: HWRA lists hospitals, schools, hotels and restaurants, malls, clubs and housing societies here.
• Mining: mines and quarries, including pit dewatering.

Installing a new borewell, or closing an existing one, after your NOC is issued needs a separate application on the portal, with its own fee.

Who is exempt

According to HWRA's FAQs, you do not need an NOC for:

• Individual households, urban or rural, drawing water for drinking and domestic use where there is no public water supply.
• Rural drinking water supply schemes.
• Agriculture.
• Armed Forces and Central Armed Police Forces establishments.
• Micro and small enterprises drawing less than 10 m³ (10,000 litres) a day, which must still register with the Authority but pay no application fee, late fee or tariff.

Exempt from an NOC does not mean exempt from everything else. Many towns restrict new borewells where piped water is available, and Gurugram has been a notified area for years. Check with your municipal body before you drill.

Dark zones: what changes in an over-exploited block

HWRA follows the CGWB categories. A block is safe below 70% extraction, semi-critical from 70% to 90%, critical from 90% to 100% and over-exploited above 100%. People call the last two dark zones.

Haryana is at 137% overall, and in 2025 16 of its 22 districts are over-exploited, led by Kurukshetra (226%), Panipat (218%), Kaithal (197%) and Gurugram (195%). Palwal is critical at 92%, Hisar and Nuh are semi-critical, and only Panchkula, Jhajjar and Rohtak are safe. The Haryana dark zone page lists every district, and each district page shows its history.

In practice the category changes three things:

1. Scrutiny. Industrial projects in over-exploited, critical or semi-critical blocks that need more than 500 KLD must submit an Impact Assessment Report.
2. Recharge. Recharge conditions in the NOC are taken seriously, because the authority is trying to bring the block back below 100%.
3. Tariff. NOC holders pay for the water they draw, and HWRA requires 90 days' tariff in advance as security.

Fees, deadlines and penalties

• Application fee is set by the guidelines (Schedule IV) and depends on the category and the quantity of water.
• Late fee of ₹1 lakh applies to existing users who did not apply by 15 February 2022, on top of the application fee.
• Tariff for existing industries applies from 24 December 2020.
• Penalties apply for breaking NOC conditions or not paying tariff.
• Processing takes about a month when the application is complete and there are no queries.

Documents you will need

The full list is on the HWRA site; the ones applicants trip over are:

• A water supply agency NOC or non-availability certificate if you draw 10 m³ a day or more, not older than six months, or an affidavit if you draw less, not older than three months.
• A water quality test report to IS 10500, issued within the last year. One report covers all your tubewells.
• An Impact Assessment Report, where required, with data not older than two years.
• A rainwater harvesting and recharge proposal for your premises.

The recharge condition

HWRA's guidelines set how a premises' recharge must be sized: rainfall from the average of the last ten years, a peak hourly rainfall of 15 to 30 mm depending on the area, and recharge wells able to take 75% of the average delivery of your borewells. Where the water table is less than 8 m deep, or the water is saline, collected rainwater is to be stored and reused rather than recharged.

That is a design calculation, not a box to tick. Our recharge pit calculator sizes pits from your roof and district rainfall, and how to recharge a dry borewell explains how the pits and bores are built. The rainwater harvesting rules for Haryana cover what building bylaws require on top of this.

How to apply

1. Create an account on the HWRA portal under GW Extraction.
2. Choose your category (industry, infrastructure or mining) and fill in the application.
3. Upload the documents and pay the fee and advance tariff.
4. Track the application online and answer any queries.

Housing societies and schools often find the recharge proposal the hardest part. We prepare the drawings and the calculation, then build the pits. Ask us about your site, and see why the rules have tightened in Gurugram's groundwater crisis.