Lok Sabha Question No. 542 (STARRED), answered on 2026-04-02
Subject: Groundwater Management and Water Conservation
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Shri Khagen Murmu, Smt. Shobhanaben Mahendrasinh Baraiya

†*542.

## 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

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.

## STATEMENT 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:-

- 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 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

Pradesh. 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.

***

## ANNEXURE

## 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 Of wells   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | &%ofwells showing change in water level   | Total No. of wells   | Total No. of wells   | Total No. of wells   | Total No. of wells   |
|---------|--------------------------|---------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|
| S. N    | State /UT                | anal ysed     | Rise Fall                                 | Rise Fall                                 | Rise Fall                                 | Rise Fall                                 | Rise Fall                                 | Rise Fall                                 |                                           |                                           |                                           |                                           |                                           | Rise                 | Rise                 | Fall                 | Fall                 |
| o. Name | State /UT                | 0             | to 2m %                                   | 2 to 4m                                   | %                                         | >                                         | 4 m %                                     | 0 to 2m                                   | %                                         | 2 to 4m                                   | %                                         | > 4 m                                     | %                                         | No.                  | %                    | No.                  | %                    |
| 1       | Andaman &Nicobar Islands | 106 83        | 78.3                                      | 0                                         | 0.0                                       | 0                                         | 0.0                                       | 22                                        | 20.8                                      | 0                                         | 0.0                                       | 0                                         | 0.0                                       | 83                   | 78.30                | 22                   | 20.75                |
| 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                |

| 19   | 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 | 69.6  |     347 |      29.63 |
| 22   | Puducherry                             |     8 | 5 62.5    |      0 | 0.0  | 1     | 12.5     |     1 | 12.5 |      1 | 12.5 |     0 |  0   |     6 | 75    |       2 |      25    |
| 23   | Punjab                                 |   185 | 80 43.2   |     17 | 9.2  | 9     | 4.9      |    38 | 20.5 |     17 |  9.2 |    23 | 12.4 |   106 | 57.3  |      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 | 115  | 29.2  | 106 26.9 |    30 |  7.6 |      2 |  0.5 |     2 |  0.5 |   359 | 91.12 |      34 |       8.63 |
| 27   | The Dadra Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu |    20 | 8 40.0    |      1 | 5.0  | 1     | 5.0      |    10 | 50   |      0 |  0   |     0 |  0   |    10 | 50    |      10 |      50    |
| 28   | Tripura                                |    86 | 47 54.7   |      0 | 0.0  | 0     | 0.0      |    37 | 43   |      2 |  2.3 |     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 | 71.7  |     161 |      28.3  |
| 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   |     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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