Although groundwater depletion due to indiscriminate extraction in several states/union territories including Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi remains a matter of concern in India, the latest assessment of ‘dynamic groundwater resources’ in the country shows improvement due to increase. Shows signal. Recharge and water use efficiency in 2020 compared to 2017.
As a result, there has been a decline in the number of ‘over-exploited’ and ‘critical’ assessment units, while the number of ‘secure’ units has increased as compared to the last assessment done three years ago. ‘Over-exploited’ units are those where groundwater extraction exceeds the annual replenishable groundwater recharge (more than 100%). If it is between 90-100%, it falls in the ‘critical’ category. Between 70-90% are classified as ‘semi-critical’, while units whose extraction is less than 70% of annual replenishable groundwater recharge are classified as ‘safe’ category.
‘Sharing with’ the key points of your findingsJal ShaktiThe (Water Resources) Ministry, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has recently attributed the improvement in groundwater conditions to increase in natural and artificial (rainwater harvesting) recharge and decrease in withdrawals.
Board officials noted that the reduction in withdrawal was mainly due to increase in availability of surface water resources due to three consecutive years of normal monsoon rainfall and better water use efficiency in different regions.
CGWB report not yet released, its main points You, show that out of 6,965 assessment units in the country, 1,114 are over-exploited; 270 are serious; 1,057 are semi-significant; 4,427 are safe and 97 are salty. Although the board had taken a higher number of assessment units for its analysis in 2020 than in 2017, the findings show a percentage drop in the number of ‘over-exploited’ and ‘critical’ units – the first two categories of major concerns.
According to the report, the net availability of extractable groundwater resources has increased from about 393 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM) in 2017 to about 398. bcm Last year while withdrawals for all uses decreased from 249 BCM to 245 BCM – this means more water remains as a natural reserve. The total annual recharge during this period also increased – from 431.86 BCM in 2017 to 436.15 BCM in 2020.
The findings suggest that the highly exploited areas are concentrated mostly in the north-western part of the country, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and parts of western Uttar Pradesh, where there has been indiscriminate extraction of groundwater despite having abundant resources. for over-exploitation. Other such regions include parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat and southern parts of peninsular India including parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
“The north-western part is prone to indiscriminate extraction of groundwater (mainly for agricultural activities such as water-consuming paddy and sugarcane cultivation) while parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan fall in the arid climate zone where recharge is limited, Which leads to stress resources,” said an official.
Referring to the stress in parts of peninsular India, he said, “The availability of groundwater in this region is low, mainly due to the inherent properties of crystalline aquifers.”
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