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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI
DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION
LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO. *542
ANSWERED ON 02.04.2026
GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AND WATER CONSERVATION
†*542. SMT. SHOBHANABEN MAHENDRASINH BARAIYA:
SHRI KHAGEN MURMU:
Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government/the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has made any assessment of
declining groundwater levels across various parts of the country in view of increasing pressure on
groundwater resources due to agricultural, industrial and domestic usage and if so, the details thereof,
State/UT-wise;
(b) the number of over-exploited, critical and semi-critical assessment units identified in Karnataka in the
latest groundwater assessment;
(c) whether the Government proposes to strengthen water conservation initiatives and aquifer recharge
programmes under the schemes such as Atal Bhujal Yojana, Jal Shakti Abhiyan – Catch the Rain and
other groundwater management initiatives to ensure sustainable water availability in the country and if so,
the details thereof;
(d) the details of the projects undertaken for aquifer mapping, rainwater harvesting, lake rejuvenation and
artificial recharge structures in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka to ensure sustainable groundwater
availability; and
(e) the steps taken by the Government to improve the declining groundwater levels, particularly in
Chhattisgarh?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI C R PATIL)
(a) to (e) : A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
1STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.
*542 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2026 IN LOK SABHA REGARDING “GROUNDWATER
MANAGEMENT AND WATER CONSERVATION”
(a) Ground water level monitoring is conducted on a regular basis by the Central Ground Water Board
(CGWB) under this Ministry and respective State Governments. Analysis of data on ground water levels
recorded by CGWB for the entire country, indicates that about 73.25 % of the wells monitored in the
country have registered rise in groundwater level during the post monsoon (November/December)
monitoring of 2025 as compared to decadal mean ground water level of previous ten years (2015-24).
State/UT-wise details are provided in Annexure.
Further, assessment of Dynamic Ground Water Resources of the country is being carried out
annually since 2022 by CGWB in coordination with the State governments. Perusal of assessment data
over the years indicates that the total annual groundwater recharge in the country has increased from 432
BCM in 2017 to 448.52 BCM in 2025. Further, the share of Safe assessment units has increased from
62.6% to 73.14%, while Over-exploited units have declined from 17.2% to 10.8% over the same period,
indicating an overall improvement in groundwater status.
However, despite favourable conditions in the country as a whole, some pockets may be
experiencing seasonal ground water stress due to various factors like high population density, rapid
urbanization and industrialization, dependence on water intensive crops, inefficient irrigation practices,
climate change, etc.
(b) As per the latest assessment of 2025, out of the total 237 Assessment Units (Taluks) in the state of
Karnataka, 45 units (18.99%) have been categorized as ‘Over- exploited’ indicating that annual
groundwater extraction exceeds the annual extractable groundwater resource. Further, 11 assessment
units (4.64%) have been categorized as ‘Critical’, 36 units (15.19 %) as ‘Semi-critical’ and 145 units
(61.18 %) are placed in ‘Safe’ category.
(c) to (e) ‘Water’ being a State subject, the responsibility of addressing the ground water related issues
lies primarily with the concerned State/UTs 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 sustainable management and improvement of ground water
resources of the country, including in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh States. Gist of various such initiatives is
given below:-
2i. 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 around
17.62 lakh works in Karnataka (including 33,259 works in Bengaluru Urban and 18,837
works in Bengaluru Rural Districts) and 4.97 lakh works in Chhattisgarh, 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. So far, more than 50 lakh rain water
harvesting and artificial recharge structures have been constructed across the country under
this initiative, with around 2.52 lakh such structures in Karnataka (including 109 in
Bengaluru Urban and 1,576 in Bengaluru Rural Districts) and 7.26 lakh structures in
Chhattisgarh.
Further, strengthening of ground water sources for drinking water schemes under Jal
Jeevan Mission is also an important thrust area under JSA & JSJB programmes. Thus far,
more than 38,000 artificial recharge works have been constructed and geo-tagged in the
country, including in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, through convergence with MGNREGS,
Finance Commission grants to rural local bodies/ PRIs, MP & MLA’s Local Area
Development Fund, District Mineral Development Fund, CSR fund etc. to augment source
sustainability of drinking water sources.
iii. To further boost the water conservation works in the country, under the ‘National Initiative
on Water Security’, it has been decided to spend at least 65% of MGNREGS funds on water
conservation works in Over-Exploited (OE) and Critical Blocks of the country and 40% in
Semi-critical Blocks and 30% in Safe Blocks and the scheme provisions have been amended
to that effect.
iv. Atal Bhujal Yojana was a pilot project for community led sustainable management of
ground water, implemented across 8,203 water stressed Gram Panchayats (GPs) of seven
States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar
3Pradesh. In Karnataka, the Scheme was implemented in 1,199 GPs of 14 districts, including
Bengaluru Rural district. Under the scheme, community-based preparation of Water
Budgets (WBs) and Water Security Plans (WSPs) was completed and annually updated for
all covered GPs.
Construction/rejuvenation of more than 25,000 water harvesting and artificial
recharge structures were done and an area of around 2.13 lakh Hectares were brought under
efficient irrigation practices. As a result, 826 out of 1,199 GPs have shown improvement in
ground water levels during periodic assessments conducted from 2023 to 2025.
v. 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 4,056
sarovars in Karnataka (including 148 in Bengaluru Rural District) and 2,901 in
Chhattisgarh.
vi. 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,
containing recommendations for various recharge structures, have been shared with all State
and District administrations, including for Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, for taking further
field implementation. Subsequent to this CGWB has initiated NAQUIM 2.0, wherein state
of the art technologies are being used for generation of aquifer information of high
granularity and preparation of village/Block level management plans.
vii. CGWB has also prepared the Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 for
the entire country, including Karnataka and Chhattisgarh states and shared with States/UTs
for serving as a technical guidebook for construction of rain water harvesting and artificial
recharge structures.
***
4ANNEXURE
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *542 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2026
REGARDING “GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AND WATER CONSERVATION”
Comparative Analysis of State-wise Ground Water Levels of Post-Monsoon 2025 with Decadal Mean water levels (Post-Monsoon 2015 to 2024)
No No. & % of wells showing change in water level Total No. of wells
S. State Of Rise Fall Rise Fall
N /UT wells % %
0 to 2 to > 4 0 to 2 to > 4
o. Name anal % % % % % % No. No.
2 m 4 m m 2 m 4 m m
ysed
Andaman & Nicobar 106 83 78.3 0 0.0 0 0.0 22 20.8 0 0.0 0 0.0 83 22
1 78.30 20.75
Islands
2 Andhra Pradesh 603 383 63.5 96 15.9 56 9.3 55 9.1 10 1.7 3 0.5 535 88.72 68 11.28
3 Arunachal Pradesh 18 8 44.4 1 5.6 0 0.0 9 50.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 9 50.00 9 50.00
4 Assam 221 147 66.5 9 4.1 2 0.9 56 25.3 4 1.8 2 0.9 158 71.49 62 28.05
5 Bihar 591 337 57.0 36 6.1 3 0.5 204 34.5 8 1.4 0 0.0 376 63.62 212 35.87
6 Chandigarh 10 4 40.0 1 10.0 0 0.0 3 30.0 1 10.0 1 10.0 5 50.00 5 50.00
7 Chhattisgarh 727 450 61.9 74 10.2 15 2.1 166 22.8 18 2.5 3 0.4 539 74.14 187 25.72
8 Delhi 76 28 36.8 13 17.1 23 30.3 8 10.5 2 2.6 2 2.6 64 84.21 12 15.79
9 Goa 68 58 85.3 4 5.9 2 2.9 2 2.9 1 1.5 0 0.0 64 94.12 3 4.41
10 Gujarat 636 240 37.7 113 17.8 110 17.3 139 21.9 19 3.0 15 2.4 463 72.80 173 27.20
11 Haryana 243 86 35.4 36 14.8 28 11.5 45 18.5 26 10.7 22 9.1 150 61.73 93 38.27
12 Himachal Pradesh 89 57 64.0 9 10.1 5 5.6 16 18.0 1 1.1 1 1.1 71 79.78 18 20.22
13 Jammu & Kashmir 207 123 59.4 5 2.4 5 2.4 65 31.4 6 2.9 1 0.5 133 64.25 72 34.78
14 Jharkhand 271 149 55.0 34 12.5 4 1.5 78 28.8 4 1.5 0 0.0 187 69.00 82 30.26
15 Karnataka 1110 577 52.0 127 11.4 57 5.1 304 27.4 29 2.6 12 1.1 761 68.56 345 31.08
16 Kerala 1397 772 55.3 70 5.0 26 1.9 470 33.6 37 2.6 14 1.0 868 62.13 521 37.29
17 Madhya Pradesh 1036 506 48.8 237 22.9 115 11.1 141 13.6 21 2.0 14 1.4 858 82.82 176 16.99
18 Maharashtra 1580 872 55.2 273 17.3 121 7.7 246 15.6 46 2.9 19 1.2 1266 80.13 311 19.68
519 Meghalaya 44 11 25.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 32 72.7 1 2.3 0 0.0 11 25.00 33 75.00
20 Nagaland 11 3 27.3 1 9.1 1 9.1 2 18.2 2 18.2 1 9.1 5 45.45 5 45.45
21 Odisha 1171 749 64.0 60 5.1 6 0.5 327 27.9 19 1.6 1 0.1 815 69.60 347 29.63
22 Puducherry 8 5 62.5 0 0.0 1 12.5 1 12.5 1 12.5 0 0.0 6 75.00 2 25.00
23 Punjab 185 80 43.2 17 9.2 9 4.9 38 20.5 17 9.2 23 12.4 106 57.30 78 42.16
24 Rajasthan 849 221 26.0 169 19.9 208 24.5 125 14.7 52 6.1 73 8.6 598 70.44 250 29.45
25 Tamil Nadu 800 352 44.0 169 21.1 112 14.0 125 15.6 23 2.9 15 1.9 633 79.13 163 20.38
26 Telangana 394 138 35.0 115 29.2 106 26.9 30 7.6 2 0.5 2 0.5 359 91.12 34 8.63
The Dadra Nagar Haveli 20 8 40.0 1 5.0 1 5.0 10 50.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 10 10
27 50.00 50.00
& Daman and Diu
28 Tripura 86 47 54.7 0 0.0 0 0.0 37 43.0 2 2.3 0 0.0 47 54.65 39 45.35
29 Uttar Pradesh 569 320 56.2 66 11.6 22 3.9 134 23.6 21 3.7 6 1.1 408 71.70 161 28.30
30 Uttarakhand 143 59 41.3 15 10.5 12 8.4 45 31.5 3 2.1 8 5.6 86 60.14 56 39.16
31 West Bengal 606 455 75.1 26 4.3 9 1.5 102 16.8 6 1.0 5 0.8 490 80.86 113 18.65
Total 13875 7328 52.8 1777 12.8 1059 7.6 3037 21.9 382 2.8 243 1.8 10164 73.25 3662 26.39
*49 wells show no change in water level. Further, CGWB did not have groundwater monitoring stations in Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Ladakh
and Lakshadweep during the above period
*****
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