Central Water Board monitoring groundwater, finds rise in water levels in 70% wells: Centre

Citing CGWB data, the MoS also said that as per the 2020 assessment, out of the total 6965 assessment units ( Block/ Taluks/Mandals/ watersheds/ Firkas) in the country, 1114 units in 15 States/UTs have been categorized as ‘Over-exploited’ where the Annual Ground Water Extraction is more than Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource.

New Delhi: Nearly 70 percent of the wells in the country monitored by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) have registered a rise in groundwater level while the remaining 30 percent have registered a decline, Minister of State (MoS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, Bishweswar Tudu said in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

"Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is periodically monitoring the groundwater levels throughout the country on a regional scale, through a network of monitoring wells. In order to assess the long-term fluctuation in groundwater levels, the water level data collected by CGWB during November 2021 has been compared with the decadal mean of November (2011-2020). Analysis of water level data indicates that about 30% of the wells monitored have registered a decline in groundwater level whereas, about 70 % of wells have registered a rise in water level," stated Tudu in a written reply.

Citing CGWB data, the MoS also said that as per the 2020 assessment, out of the total 6965 assessment units ( Block/ Taluks/Mandals/ watersheds/ Firkas) in the country, 1114 units in 15 States/UTs have been categorized as ‘Over-exploited’ where the Annual Ground Water Extraction is more than Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource.

Tudu further stated that even though water is a State subject, the Union Government is taking several crucial measures for conservation of groundwater and effective implementation of rainwater harvesting in the country including in areas facing acute water shortage.

"Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR (DoWR, RD & GR) is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs. 6,000 crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of groundwater resources with community participation. Atal Jal is being implemented in 80 water-stressed districts and 8565 water-stressed Gram Panchayats of seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh," stated Tudu.

The MoS stated that a number of states such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar, have done commendable work in terms of water conservation.

"In addition, a number of States have done notable work in the field of water conservation/harvesting such as ‘Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan’ in Rajasthan, ‘Jalyukt Shibar’ in Maharashtra, ‘Sujalam Sufalam Abhiyan’ in Gujarat, ‘Mission Kakatiya’ in Telangana, Neeru Chettu’ in Andhra Pradesh, Jal Jeevan Hariyali in Bihar, ‘Jal Hi Jeevan’ in Haryana, and Kudimaramath scheme in Tamil Nadu, etc," he added.

"As reported by States/ UTs, as on 15.03.2022, out of 17.01 lakh rural habitations of the country spread across 6.05 lakh villages, 13.25 lakh habitations have provision of potable drinking water with supply level of more than 40 litre per capita per day (lpcd) and 3.47 lakh habitations with supply level of less than 40 lpcd with sources at a reasonable distance," the Minister stated.