Parliament Question: Groundwater Levels in Uttar Pradesh

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *282 ANSWERED ON 12.03.2026 GROUNDWATER LEVELS IN UTTAR PRADESH †*282. SHRI ARUN GOVIL: Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) the status of groundwater levels in Meerut and Hapur Districts of Uttar Pradesh, blockwise; and (b) the efforts made/being made by the Government to improve groundwater level in Meerut Lok Sabha Constituency along with the details of improvements achieved therefrom? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF JAL SHAKTI (SHRI C R PATIL) (a) to (b) : A statement is laid on the Table of the House. 1STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (b) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. *282 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2026 IN LOK SABHA REGARDING “GROUNDWATER LEVELS IN UTTAR PRADESH” (a) Ground water levels in the country are regularly monitored by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under this Ministry and the respective State Governments. The block-wise ground water level data for Hapur and Meerut districts, measured by CGWB during its post monsoon round of monitoring during November/December 2025 is provided in Annexure. Perusal of said data indicates that 50% of the analyzed wells in Hapur district and 77.78% of the analyzed wells in Meerut district have recorded groundwater levels in the range of 0 -20 metres below ground level (mbgl). (b) ‘Water’ being a State subject, the responsibility of addressing the ground water related issues lies primarily with the concerned State Governments. However, the Central Government facilitates the efforts of the State Governments by way of technical and financial assistance through its various schemes and projects. In this direction, several important steps have been taken by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and other Central Ministries for improvement of ground water resources of the country, including in Meerut Lok Sabha constituency, comprising of Meerut and parts of Hapur district. Gist of various such schemes/programmes are given below:- i. Efforts of the Government for augmenting the water/groundwater resources of the country are mainly channeled through the flagship campaign of Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), an annual mission mode programme for taking up water harvesting and artificial recharge activities. As per the available information under JSA, more than 2 cr water conservation and artificial recharge works have been taken up through convergence in the country so far, with 8,221 structures in Meerut & 1,538 in Hapur district, which has played a key role in enhancing the sustainability of ground water resources. ii. To further strengthen the momentum of JSA, Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) initiative has been launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in 2024 with a vision to make rain water harvesting a mass movement in the country. By promoting community ownership and responsibility, the initiative seeks to develop cost-effective, local solutions tailored to specific water challenges across different regions. Thus far, more than 44 lakh rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures have been constructed across the country under this initiative with 535 & 325 such structures in Meerut and Hapur districts respectively. iii. Ministry of Jal Shakti has successfully implemented Atal Bhujal Yojana, a one of its kind scheme of community led participatory groundwater management, across 8,203 priority water stressed Gram Panchayats of seven states, including Uttar Pradesh. 57 Gram Panchayats (GPs) of Kharkhoda and Rajpura Blocks of Meerut District have been covered under the Scheme. Further, 2in this scheme implementation area, 376 rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures like check dams, ponds, recharge wells etc. have been constructed and an area of around 6,800 Hectares has been brought under efficient irrigation practices like use of drips, sprinklers etc. As a result, 34 out of 57 GPs have shown improvement in ground water levels during periodic assessments conducted from 2023 to 2025. iv. Mission Amrit Sarovar was also launched by the Government of India, which aimed at developing and rejuvenating at least 75 water bodies in each district of the country for the purpose of increasing water storage and boosting ground water recharge. As an outcome nearly 69,000 Amrit Sarovars have been constructed/rejuvenated in the country with 152 in Meerut & 111 in Hapur district. v. Central Ground water Board under its National Aquifer Mapping & Management (NAQUIM) Programme, has covered the entire mappable area of 25 lakh sq. kms of the country and district level aquifer maps along with appropriate aquifer management plans have been shared with all State and District administrations, including Meerut & Hapur for taking further field implementation. vi. CGWB has also prepared the Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 for the entire country, including Meerut and Hapur districts and shared with States/UTs, for serving as a technical guidebook for construction of rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures. vii. Additionally, several schemes focusing on water conservation and enhancing water use efficiency in agriculture are being implemented in these areas by M/o Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, like Per Drop More Crop (PDMC), which focuses on promoting micro-irrigation and Crop Diversification Programme (CDP), which encourages farmers to shift to less water intensive crops like millets, pulses etc. Apart from delivering physical infrastructure for water harvesting and recharge, impact of the above initiatives can also be felt in terms of steadily improving ground water situation in the country, including in Meerut and Hapur Districts. Such improvement is best captured through the Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment exercise, being annually conducted by CGWB in coordination with the State Governments. The comparative analysis of ground water resources data indicates that the Stage of Ground Water Extraction (SoE), which is the ratio of total annual ground water extraction for all uses to total extractable ground water, has improved from 107.34% (Over-Exploited) in 2017 to 93.93% (Critical) in 2025 for Hapur District. Similarly, SoE for Meerut district has improved from 84.01% to 78.89% during the same period. *** 3ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *282 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2026 REGARDING “GROUNDWATER LEVELS IN UTTAR PRADESH” Block-wise Depth to water level recorded during Post-Monsoon 2025 in Hapur District Water level range recorded in meters below ground No of wells District Block level (mbgl) monitored Garh between 10 -20 meters Hapur Mukteshwar 1 Hapur 1 between 20 -40 meters 1 well between 10 -20 meters (50%) Total 2 1 well between 20 -40 meters (50%) * CGWB does not have any monitoring stations in Dholana and Simbholi blocks of Hapur. Block-wise Depth to Water Level recorded during Post-Monsoon, 2025 in Merrut District No Water level range recorded in meters below of ground level (mbgl) District Block wells monitored Meerut Hastinapur 1 between 10 -20 meters between 0 -2 meters Janikhurd & 2 between 5 -10 meters Kharkhoda 1 between 20 -40 meters between 5 -10 meters Mawana & Kalan 2 between 10 -20 meters Meerut 1 between 20 -40 meters Parikshitgarh 1 between 10 -20 meters Sardhana 1 between 5 -10 meters 1 well between 0 -2 meters (11.1%) 3 well between 5 -10 meters (33.3%) Total 9 3 well between 10 -20 meters (33.3%) 2 well between 10 -20 meters (22.2%) *CGWB does not have any monitoring stations in Daurala, Machhara, Rajpura, Rohta & Sarurpur blocks of Meerut. ***** 4