Parliament Question: Groundwater management and water conservation

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4064 ANSWERED ON 30.03.2026 GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AND WATER CONSERVATION 4064 # SHRI SUBHASH BARALA: Smt. KIRAN CHOUDHRY: Dr. DINESH SHARMA: Smt. SEEMA DWIVEDI: Smt. SADHNA SINGH: SHRI RYAGA KRISHNAIAH: SHRI BABURAM NISHAD: Will the Minister of Jal Shakti be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has undertaken any assessment of groundwater depletion in various parts of the country, particularly in view of increasing pressure on groundwater resources due to agricultural and domestic usage; (b) if so, the details thereof; (c) whether Government proposes to strengthen water conservation initiatives and aquifer recharge programmes under schemes such as Atal Bhujal Yojana and other groundwater management initiatives to ensure sustainable water availability; and (d) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY) (a) & (b) Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment of the country is carried out annually by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in coordination with State Governments. As per the latest assessment for 2025, the total Annual Ground Water Recharge in the country is 448.52 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) and the Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource is 407.75 BCM. The total Annual Ground Water Extraction has been assessed as 247.22 BCM. Accordingly, the Stage of Ground Water Extraction (SoE), defined as the ratio of Annual Ground Water Extraction for all uses to Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource, is worked out to be 60.63% for the country as a whole. The state- wise Ground Water Resources of India (2025) are given in Annexure. 1The assessment data further indicates an improvement in groundwater status, with total annual recharge in the country increasing from 432 BCM in 2017 to 448.52 BCM in 2025. During the same period, the percentage of safe assessment units increased from 62.6% to 73.14%, while over-exploited units declined from 17.2% to 10.8%. However, despite favourable assessment figures, some pockets in the country 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. (c) & (d) ‘Water’ being a State subject, sustainable development and management of water and groundwater resources is primarily the responsibility of the 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 including under Atal Bhujal Yojana and other groundwater management initiatives. The major steps taken in this direction, including the latest initiatives are provided 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, 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 47 lakh rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures have been constructed across the country under this initiative. iii. M/o Jal Shakti has successfully demonstrated the efficacy of community led participatory ground water management through Atal Bhujal Yojana, which was implemented in 8,203 water stressed Gram Panchayats of 229 Blocks across 7 States, viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Under the scheme, community led preparation of Water Budgets (WBs) and Water Security Plans (WSPs) was completed and annually updated for all covered GPs Further, construction/rejuvenation of more than 83,000 rain water harvesting and recharge structures like check dams, ponds, shafts etc. were done under the scheme and an area of more than 9.7 lakh Hectares was brought under efficient irrigation practices like use of drips, sprinklers etc. As a result, 180 out of 229 Blocks have 2shown improvement in ground water levels during the assessments conducted between 2023 to 2025. iv. Mission Amrit Sarovar was launched by the Government of India which aimed at developing and rejuvenating at least 75 water bodies in each district of the country. As an outcome nearly 69,000 Amrit Sarovars have been constructed/rejuvenated in the country leading to enhanced water storage and ground water recharge. v. Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare (DA & FW) is implementing Per Drop More Crop Scheme since 2015-16, which focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at farm level through Micro Irrigation leading to conservation of ground water. vi. After the successful completion of National Aquifer Mapping & Monitoring Programme (NAQUIM 1.0), which mapped country's aquifers and provided a macro-level understanding of our nation's groundwater resources, the Central Ground Water Board has embarked upon NAQUIM 2.0, focusing on water stressed and quality affected pockets. Under NAQUIM 2.0 state-of-the-art technologies are harnessed, for generating highly detailed, scientific data which serve as an important tool for making informed decisions for sustainable groundwater management. vii. CGWB has also prepared the Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 for the entire country and shared with States/UTs, for serving as a technical guidebook for construction of rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures. *** 3ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) & (b) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4064 TO BE ANSWERED IN RAJYA SABHA ON 30.03.2026 REGARDING “GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AND WATER CONSERVATION”. STATE-WISE GROUND WATER RESOURCES OF INDIA, 2025 S. States / Union Total Annual Annual Extractable Annual GW Stage of No. Territories Ground Water Ground Water Extraction Ground Water Recharge Resource for all uses Extraction (%) (in BCM*) (in BCM) (in BCM) 1 Andhra Pradesh 26.34 25.02 7.88 31.51 2 Arunachal Pradesh 3.69 3.29 0.01 0.41 3 Assam 26.36 20.29 2.93 14.45 4 Bihar 34.51 31.32 14.47 46.20 5 Chhattisgarh 14.30 13.07 6.30 48.18 6 Goa 0.38 0.31 0.07 23.30 7 Gujarat 27.58 25.61 14.33 55.95 8 Haryana 10.27 9.30 12.72 136.75 9 Himachal Pradesh 1.12 1.01 0.39 38.50 10 Jharkhand 6.15 5.63 1.85 32.89 11 Karnataka 19.27 17.41 11.58 66.49 12 Kerala 5.45 4.93 2.46 49.95 13 Madhya Pradesh 36.07 34.15 20.26 59.32 14 Maharashtra 33.89 31.99 16.57 51.79 15 Manipur 0.44 0.40 0.04 9.09 16 Meghalaya 1.84 1.54 0.08 5.24 17 Mizoram 0.21 0.19 0.01 4.03 18 Nagaland 0.55 0.50 0.02 4.72 19 Odisha 17.44 16.02 7.81 48.75 20 Punjab 18.60 16.80 26.27 156.36 21 Rajasthan 12.87 11.62 17.10 147.11 22 Sikkim 0.24 0.22 0.01 5.87 23 Tamil Nadu 22.61 20.46 15.04 73.50 24 Telangana 21.93 19.84 9.26 46.69 25 Tripura 1.53 1.24 0.12 10.06 26 Uttar Pradesh 73.39 66.97 46.89 70.00 27 Uttarakhand 2.13 1.95 1.05 53.92 28 West Bengal 25.85 23.50 10.62 45.19 29 Andaman And 0.38 0.35 0.01 2.27 Nicobar 30 Chandigarh 0.05 0.05 0.03 67.00 31 Dadra and Nagar 0.13 0.12 0.05 40.45 Haveli and Daman and Diu 32 Delhi 0.38 0.35 0.32 92.10 33 Jammu AndKashmir 2.30 2.07 0.51 24.73 34 Ladakh 0.07 0.06 0.02 30.93 35 Lakshadweep 0.01 0.01 0.00 57.79 36 Puducherry 0.19 0.17 0.13 75.98 Grand Total 448.52 407.75 247.22 60.63 *BCM -Billion Cubic Meters ***** 4