At a glance
The hidden water under India, and how fast it is used
- India runs 43,228 groundwater monitoring stations.
- Between 2017 and 2025, safe units grew from 62.6% to 73.14% of all units.
- Over the same years, over-exploited units fell from 17.2% to 10.80%.
- Atal Bhujal Yojana ran until 15 October 2025.
- Every figure here is a dated snapshot from the cited pages.
Groundwater is India’s biggest hidden water source. This lesson covers the 2025 national assessment, state patterns, and why stress differs by region. It then covers traditional harvesting, regulation, schemes and past exam questions. Figures are dated snapshots. Where sources differ, both numbers are shown with dates.
Contents
Where does India's water come from?
Groundwater is the hidden half of the water story. Most of it is used for farming.
1. How much of the Earth's liquid freshwater is groundwater?
Groundwater is about 99% of the Earth’s liquid freshwater.
The same point was tested in UPSC Prelims 2021 (see item 24).
2. How much water does India have, and how many people share it?
India has 17.5% of the world’s population. It also has 11.6% of the world’s livestock.
Precipitation is about 3,880 BCM a year. Average annual water available is 1,999.20 BCM (CWC study, 2019).
Per-capita availability was 1,573.19 cubic metres in 2021 (CWC, 2024 assessment).
3. How much of India's water use depends on groundwater?
Groundwater meets about 62% of irrigation needs. It also meets 85% of rural and 50% of urban water needs.
Cheap drilling and pumping encourage uncontrolled abstraction. India has 43,228 groundwater monitoring stations.
4. Who uses the groundwater that India draws?
The 2025 assessment splits extraction by sector. Irrigation takes 215 BCM, or 87%.
Domestic use takes 28 BCM (11%). Industry takes 4 BCM (2%).
What does the latest national assessment say?
The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) assesses dynamic groundwater with the states. The latest edition is 2025.
5. What are the headline numbers of the 2025 assessment?
Annual recharge is 448.52 BCM. Annually extractable resource is 407.75 BCM.
Extraction is 247.22 BCM. The national Stage of Extraction (SoE) is 60.63%.
The 2024 edition showed recharge of 446.90 BCM, extraction of 245.64 BCM and SoE of 60.47%.
Source: PIB, 18 Dec 2025, item 5
Source: PIB, 31 Dec 2024, item 5
6. What is Stage of Extraction, and how are units classified?
SoE is extraction as a share of the extractable resource. The unit of assessment is a block, taluk or mandal.
- Safe: below 70%.
- Semi-critical: 70% to 90%.
- Critical: 90% to 100%.
- Over-exploited: above 100%.
- Saline units are listed separately.
Source: PIB, 29 Jan 2026, item 6
Source: PIB, 18 Dec 2025, item 6
7. How many assessment units fall in each category?
The 2025 assessment covers 6,762 units. Of these, 4,946 (73.14%) are safe.
Semi-critical units number 758 (11.21%). Critical units number 201 (2.97%).
Over-exploited units number 730 (10.80%). Saline units number 127 (1.88%).
Source: PIB, 18 Dec 2025, item 7
8. Is the situation getting better or worse?
Between 2017 and 2025, recharge rose from 432 to 448.52 BCM. Safe units rose from 62.6% to 73.14%.
Over-exploited units fell from 17.2% to 10.8%. So the national picture has improved on paper.
In 54.4% of analysed wells, post-monsoon 2024 levels were higher than the 2019-23 mean.
Source: PIB, 29 Jan 2026, item 8
Source: PIB, 18 Dec 2025, item 8
Why does groundwater stress differ so much across India?
The national average hides sharp regional gaps. Some states take out more than they recharge.
9. Which states extract more groundwater than nature recharges?
Three states have SoE above 100%. These are Punjab (156.36%), Rajasthan (147.11%) and Haryana (136.75%).
Rajasthan is the second most over-extracted state. Punjab extracts 26.27 BCM against an extractable 16.80 BCM.
10. Which states are above the national average?
Nine states and UTs are above the national SoE. They are Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Karnataka.
Delhi is at 92.10%. Tamil Nadu is at 73.50% and Uttar Pradesh at 70.00%. Also, 281 districts are above the national average.
11. Why are the eastern and north-eastern states far below the average?
Recharge is large and use is small. Bihar recharges 34.51 BCM and extracts 14.47 BCM, an SoE of 46.20%.
Assam is at 14.45% and Meghalaya at 5.24%. Arunachal Pradesh is at 0.41%.
12. What is the pattern of use across the states?
NCERT groups states by how much of their replenishable groundwater they use. Use is very high in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Use is low in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Kerala. It is moderate in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tripura and Maharashtra.
13. Can a place be water-short even when the rain is heavy?
Yes. Cherrapunji and Mawsynram get the highest rainfall in the world.
Yet Shillong faces an acute shortage of water. There, rooftop harvesting gives 15% to 25% of household water.
14. What does the NITI Aayog water index show about states?
The Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) has a foreword dated 12 June 2018. It uses 9 themes and 28 indicators.
For 2016-17, Gujarat scored highest (76). Meghalaya scored lowest (26).
Fourteen of 24 states scored below 50. NITI said 54% of groundwater wells were declining.
15. How bad could water stress get, according to NITI Aayog?
The 2018 report said 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress. It linked poor water access to about 2 lakh deaths a year.
It projected demand at twice the supply by 2030. It estimated a loss of about 6% of GDP.
How do traditional and urban methods recharge groundwater?
Harvesting rain locally is the oldest answer to scarcity. NCERT lists regional methods.
16. What are the traditional rainwater-harvesting methods?
- Tanka: an underground tank in Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer.
- Khadin: a harvesting system in Jaisalmer.
- Johad: used in other parts of Rajasthan.
- Guls and kuls: channels in the Western Himalayas.
- Inundation channels: used in the Bengal plains.
NCERT describes one household’s tank in Phalodi as 6.1 m deep, 4.27 m long and 2.44 m wide.
17. How does bamboo drip irrigation work?
It is a 200-year-old system in Meghalaya. Bamboo pipes carry stream water to the plants.
About 18 to 20 litres enter the pipe. At the plant, 20 to 80 drops fall a minute.
18. Why did the Indira Gandhi Canal change tanka use?
The canal brings plenty of water to western Rajasthan. As a result, people there use tankas less.
19. Which state first made rooftop harvesting compulsory?
Tamil Nadu was the first state to make rooftop rainwater harvesting compulsory in all houses.
20. What is the national plan for artificial recharge?
The Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater (2020) proposes about 1.42 crore structures. These could recharge about 185 BCM.
CGWB has also mapped about 25 lakh sq km under NAQUIM. It has prepared 654 district aquifer plans.
India has 14 principal and 42 major aquifers.
Source: PIB, 18 Dec 2025, item 20
What have the government and the law done about it?
Schemes work on both supply and demand. Rules apply mostly to over-exploited areas.
21. What do the CGWA guidelines of 2020 say?
The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) issued guidelines on 24.09.2020. They include heavy penalties and Environmental Compensation.
No new large-scale industries are allowed in over-exploited areas. Illegal borewells can be sealed.
The Model Groundwater Bill has been adopted by 21 states and UTs, including Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
Source: PIB, 18 Dec 2025, item 21
22. What was Atal Bhujal Yojana, and what did it achieve?
Atal Bhujal Yojana was launched on 25 December 2019 with Rs 6,000 crore. It was a pilot for community-led groundwater management.
It covered 8,203 gram panchayats in 229 blocks, 80 districts and 7 states. It ran from 1 April 2020 to 15 October 2025.
Of the 229 blocks, 180 improved in 2023-2025. Maharashtra saw 39 of 43 blocks improve.
More than 83,800 supply-side structures were built or renovated. Women’s participation was set at a minimum of 33%.
The scheme has now ended.
Source: PIB, 30 Jul 2026, item 22
Source: PIB backgrounder, 22 Jan 2026, item 22
Source: PIB, 4 Dec 2025, item 22
Source: PIB, 2 Apr 2026, item 22
23. What are Jal Shakti Abhiyan and its follow-ups?
Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain was launched on 22 March 2021. Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari followed on 6 September 2024.
Mission Amrit Sarovar began on 24 April 2022. Each pond is at least 1 acre in area.
In September 2025, a National Initiative on Water Security set a MGNREGS rule. At least 65% of funds in over-exploited and critical blocks go to water conservation. For semi-critical blocks it is 40%.
What has UPSC asked on this topic?
Prelims keys come from the official UPSC answer key. Mains has no official answer key to quote.
24. PYQ: UPSC Prelims 2021, GS Paper I, Series A, Q62
Question (verbatim): With reference to the water on the planet Earth, consider the following statements:
1. The amount of water in the rivers and lakes is more than the amount of groundwater. 2. The amount of water in polar ice caps and glaciers is more than the amount of groundwater.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Official answer key: (b). Series A, Q62.
Groundwater is larger than rivers and lakes. Ice caps and glaciers are larger than groundwater.
25. PYQ: UPSC Prelims 2023, GS Paper I, Series A, Q76
Question (verbatim): Consider the following statements:
Statement-I: According to the United Nations’ ‘World Water Development Report, 2022’, India extracts more than a quarter of the world’s groundwater withdrawal each year.
Statement-II: India needs to extract more than a quarter of the world’s groundwater each year to satisfy the drinking water and sanitation needs of almost 18% of world’s population living in its territory.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
(a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I
(b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I
(c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect
(d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct
Official answer key: (c). Series A, Q76.
So UPSC treated Statement-I as correct and Statement-II as incorrect. Irrigation takes 87% of the groundwater extracted (item 4), a likely reason.
26. PYQ: UPSC Mains 2025, GS Paper III, Q13 (15 marks, 250 words)
Question (verbatim): Examine the factors responsible for depleting groundwater in India. What are the steps taken by the government to mitigate such depletion of groundwater?
Items 3, 21, 22 and 23 above hold the facts for this answer.
27. PYQ: UPSC Mains 2024, 2019 and 2018, GS Paper I, Q14 (15 marks each)
2024 (verbatim): The groundwater potential of the gangetic valley is on a serious decline. How may it affect the food security of India?
2019 (verbatim): What is water stress? How and why does it differ regionally in India?
2018 (verbatim): “The ideal solution of depleting ground water resources in India is water harvesting system.” How can it be made effective in urban areas?
Four questions to think through
Why does farming decide India's groundwater story?
About 62% of irrigation needs are met by groundwater. Irrigation then takes 87% of all the groundwater extracted. So farm pumping moves the national total far more than city or factory use does. Cheap drilling and pumping make uncontrolled abstraction easy.
Why do Punjab and Bihar sit so far apart on Stage of Extraction?
Punjab pumps 26.27 BCM although only 16.80 BCM is extractable. Bihar recharges 34.51 BCM and extracts 14.47 BCM. So Punjab takes out more than it can refill. Bihar uses well under half of its recharge.
Does a better national picture mean the problem is solved?
Not fully. Safe units rose from 62.6% to 73.14% between 2017 and 2025. But 730 units are still over-exploited. Three states still extract more than they recharge.
How can a very rainy place still run short of drinking water?
Heavy rain does not guarantee a water supply. Shillong faces an acute shortage of water despite the wet places nearby.
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