Extraction of Groundwater

Extraction of Groundwater

The Dynamic Ground Water Resources of the country are being periodically assessed jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Governments. As per the 2017 assessment, total Annual Ground Water Recharge is 432 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM) and the Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource is 393 BCM. The Annual Ground Water Extraction for all uses is 249 BCM, out of which 221 BCM (89%) is for irrigation use and 25 BCM (10%) is for domestic uses.

As per the 2017 assessment, out of the total 6881 assessment units (Block/ Taluks/ Mandals/ watersheds/ Firkas) in the country, 1186 units in 17 States/UTs have been categorized as ‘Over-exploited’ where the Annual Ground Water Extraction is more than Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource.

Ground water is a replenishable resource which gets recharged every year through rainfall and other sources such as return flow from irrigation, canal seepage, recharge from surface water bodies etc. In addition, ground water is also available in deeper aquifers below the earth.

As per latest assessment, India receives annual precipitation of about 3880 BCM (Billion Cubic Metre). After accounting for evaporation and evapo-transpiration etc, the average annual water availability in the Country has been assessed as 1999.20 BCM as natural run-off. It has been estimated that owing to topographic, hydrological and other constraints, the utilizable water is 1122 BCM which comprises of 690 BCM of surface water and 432 BCM of total annual ground water recharge. The Country has an estimated live storage capacity of 257.812 BCM.

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Rattan Lal Kataria in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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