The government of India formulated the water pollution prevention act in 1974 to provide for the prevention, control and abatement of water pollution and the maintenance or restoration of the wholesomeness of water.

The main features of this act are:

• Punishing the offenders who pollute water.
• Setting up of state and central pollution control boards to monitor pollution.
• Setting up of laboratories to check for the extent of water pollution and decide the extent of guilt of offenders who have polluted water.
• Specifies rules of waste disposal and treatment.
• Establish procedures to control pollution at the point of source itself.
• Establish research laboratories for experimentation and application of pollution control techniques.