NEW DELHI: Total annual groundwater recharge in the country marginally declined in 2024, compared to 2023, and so did water availability due to higher groundwater extraction last year, with northwest India, including parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh, being the bigger culprits.
The Central Ground Water Board‘s annual assessment report, released recently by the ‘Jal Shakti’ (water resources) ministry, also shows that the percentage of ‘critical’ and ‘over-exploited’ assessment units (block/taluk/tehsil/mandal), put together, increased in 2024, compared to the previous year, reflecting a bigger concern of inadequate recharge of groundwater in certain states, which extracted more for multiple use.
The percentage of ‘over-exploited’ and ‘critical’ administrative units are more than 25% of the total units in the states and UTs of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu. It means groundwater extraction in these states and UTs substantially exceeded the annually replenishable groundwater recharge – a situation that might lead to water scarcity in due course if business-as-usual scenario remains.
Data shows that the annual groundwater recharge in 2024 was 446.9 billion cubic meter (BCM), compared to 449.08 BCM in 2023. Accordingly, the annual extractable groundwater resources has also decreased marginally from 407.21 in 2023 to 406.19 BCM in 2024. In 2022, the total annual groundwater recharge was 437.6 BCM, whereas extractable groundwater resources was 398.08 BCM.
Though the annual groundwater recharge and availability last year was much higher than 2022, the decline compared to 2023 is a concern, even as the year got good monsoon rainfall. The board has attributed it mainly to reduction in return flow from irrigation.
The main source of replenishable groundwater resources is recharge from rainfall, which contributes to nearly 61% of the total annual groundwater recharge. Since over 75% of annual rainfall is received during the summer monsoon (June to Sept), the ministry’s annual campaign ‘Catch the Rain – Where it Falls When it Falls’, by creating rainwater harvesting and conservation infrastructure through people’s participation and states’ cooperation, might show results in the long run. Though improvement in the groundwater situation is noticeable if it is compared with 2017, when the annual groundwater recharge was 431.86 BCM and the annual extractable groundwater resources 392.7 BCM, parts of northwest India invariably play spoilsport by indiscriminately extracting substantial amount of groundwater leading to over exploitation. Groundwater extraction for cultivating water-guzzling paddy in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh is one of the key reasons behind over exploitation in the region.
“In some areas of the country, good continuous rainfall and management practices like groundwater augmentation and conservation measures taken up under central and state govt initiatives have resulted in improvement in the groundwater situation,” said the report.
Certain western parts of the country, particularly those of Rajasthan and Gujarat, also fall in the over-exploited zone, as groundwater recharge is limited due to the region’s arid climate, leading to stress on the resource. On the other hand, groundwater availability is low due to characteristics of crystalline aquifers in southern part of peninsular India, including parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.