{"id":85242,"date":"2026-09-21T18:16:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=85242"},"modified":"2026-09-21T18:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:46:48","slug":"groundwater-depletion-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-09-2026\/groundwater-depletion-india","title":{"rendered":"Persistent Decline in India\u2019s Groundwater\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India\u2019s groundwater levels are declining persistently, according to the <strong>State of Global Water Resources 2025<\/strong> report published by the <strong>World Meteorological Organization (WMO).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Groundwater Depletion?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Groundwater depletion is the condition when the <strong>rate of groundwater extraction exceeds<\/strong> the rate at which groundwater is naturally replenished through <strong>rainfall infiltration, surface-water seepage and other recharge processes.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Unlike a temporary fall in the water table, persistent depletion indicates a sustained imbalance between groundwater withdrawal and recharge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India holds <strong>18%<\/strong> of the world\u2019s population but only <strong>4%<\/strong> of its freshwater resources, placing enormous pressure on available water systems.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India depends on groundwater for about <strong>85% of its rural drinking water <\/strong>needs and around<strong> 60% of irrigation water.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Findings of the WMO Report<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The report uses <strong>2001\u20132020<\/strong> as the reference period to assess groundwater conditions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Globally, <strong>34%<\/strong> of groundwater observation stations recorded below-normal to much-below-normal levels in <strong>2025.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Around <strong>31% <\/strong>of stations recorded above-normal to much-above-normal groundwater levels, indicating significant regional variation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Northern India<\/strong> recorded below-normal terrestrial water storage in 2025, indicating continued pressure on the region&#8217;s freshwater reserves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The WMO also reported that <strong>global terrestrial water storage has shown a declining trend since 2014\u20132016<\/strong>, reflecting a longer-term deterioration in freshwater availability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Drivers Behind the Groundwater Declining in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Over-extraction: <\/strong>Agriculture accounts for the<strong> largest percentage of groundwater <\/strong>withdrawal in India.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since paddy and wheat are water heavy crops, the demand for ground water is significant in locations where the natural recharging is limited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Subsidised electricity:<\/strong> Low or subsidised electricity for agricultural pumping can reduce the economic incentive to conserve groundwater and encourage excessive extraction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Variable groundwater recharge: <\/strong>Fast urbanisation, concreting and wetland loss restrict the area for natural infiltration and aquifer recharge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate variability: <\/strong>Erratic rainfall, lengthy dry spells and increasing temperatures can impair efficient recharge of groundwater and increase irrigation demand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Initiatives taken by Governement<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Jal Shakti Abhiyan (2019):<\/strong> Focuses on water conservation and groundwater recharge in water-stressed districts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Aquifer Mapping Program (NAQUIM): <\/strong>Helps delineate and understand aquifers for sustainable management.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Atal Bhujal Yojana was<\/strong> launched to improve groundwater management in priority areas with critical and overexploited blocks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA)<\/strong> regulates groundwater extraction through guidelines, particularly for industrial and infrastructure uses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Micro-irrigation<\/strong> under schemes such as the <strong>Per Drop More Crop<\/strong> component promotes efficient use of irrigation water.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Groundwater management needs to shift from <strong>controlling extraction alone to managing the entire aquifer balance.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Crop diversification towards less water-intensive crops should be supported through assured procurement, price incentives and appropriate agricultural infrastructure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Groundwater budgets should be prepared at the <strong>aquifer and watershed level, <\/strong>using reliable monitoring data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/water\/indias-groundwater-in-persistent-decline-warns-un-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> India\u2019s groundwater levels are declining persistently, according to the State of Global Water Resources 2025 report published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> What is Groundwater Depletion? <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Groundwater depletion is the condition when the rate of groundwater extraction exceeds the rate at which groundwater is naturally replenished through rainfall infiltration, surface-water seepage and other recharge processes. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Unlike a temporary fall in the water table, persistent depletion indicates a sustained imbalance between groundwater withdrawal and recharge. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-09-2026\/groundwater-depletion-india\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85242"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85244,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85242\/revisions\/85244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}