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As per the Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment, 2025, India's total Annual Ground Water Recharge is 449 Billion Cubic Metres, Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource is 408 BCM, and Annual Ground Water Extraction for all uses is 247 BCM.
Of the 247 BCM extracted, 215 BCM (87%) goes to irrigation, 28 BCM (11%) to domestic use including drinking water, and 4 BCM (2%) to industry.
The national Stage of Ground Water Extraction — the ratio of annual extraction to annual extractable resource — is 60.63%, and nine States/UTs exceed the national average: Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Karnataka. 281 districts are above the national average.
The Central Water Commission's Assessment of Water Resources of India, 2024 put average annual per capita water availability for 2021 at 1,573.19 cubic metres.
The Annual Ground Water Quality Report, 2025 finds groundwater generally potable, with nearly 99% of monitoring stations showing quality suitable for irrigation; in Bihar, of 584 samples analysed, electrical conductivity exceeded permissible limits in 5, fluoride in 39 and nitrate in 78.
The Stage of Ground Water Extraction is the ratio of Annual Ground Water Extraction to Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource, expressed as a percentage. Assessment units — blocks, mandals, talukas or firkas — are placed in four categories on this ratio: 'Safe' up to 70%, 'Semi-critical' between 70% and 90%, 'Critical' between 90% and 100%, and 'Over-exploited' above 100%. An over-exploited unit is one where more groundwater is drawn out in a year than is naturally replenished, so the water table falls year on year. Note the two distinct denominators in the assessment: total Annual Ground Water Recharge is 449 BCM, but the Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource is the smaller figure of 408 BCM, because a share of recharge is set aside as natural discharge during the non-monsoon period. The Stage of Extraction is computed against the extractable figure, not the recharge figure — which is why 247 BCM out of 408 BCM gives 60.63%, and not the lower ratio you would get using 449 BCM.
Simple Analogy: Recharge is the whole month's salary; the extractable resource is what is left after fixed commitments. The stage of extraction measures your spending against the second number, not the first.
Assesses dynamic groundwater resources jointly with States, runs the groundwater quality monitoring programme, publishes the Annual Ground Water Quality Report, Ground Water Quality Bulletins and fortnightly Ground Water Quality Alerts, and carries out aquifer mapping
Regulates and controls groundwater development and management, including permissions for groundwater abstraction by industries and infrastructure projects
Assesses the country's water resources; its Assessment of Water Resources of India, 2024 put average annual per capita water availability for 2021 at 1,573.19 cubic metres
District-level resource and knowledge centres providing technical guidance on rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and water conservation and supporting district administrations
Map aquifers and prepare aquifer management plans for scientific groundwater planning
Key: NAQUIM 1.0 covered about 25 lakh sq km of the identified mappable area, including about 90,567 sq km in Bihar; NAQUIM 2.0 focuses on priority areas — water-stressed and quality-affected regions — and covered 143 study areas over about 76,857 sq km during 2023-24 to 2025-26, including five high-resolution study areas over 3,202.94 sq km in Bihar
Provide every rural household with potable tap water of prescribed quality in adequate quantity on a regular long-term basis
Key: Prioritises water-quality-affected and water-scarce areas while ensuring source sustainability through rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and rejuvenation of water bodies; tap water connections provided to 15.90 crore rural households, about 82% of rural households nationally and about 1.60 crore households (95.71%) in Bihar
Annual mission-mode campaign for water conservation and artificial recharge
Key: More than 2 crore water conservation and artificial recharge works undertaken nationally through convergence, including around 5.75 lakh in Bihar; supported by district-level Jal Shakti Kendras
Make rainwater harvesting a people's movement
Key: Launched in 2024; more than 1.55 crore artificial groundwater recharge and water-storage works constructed nationally, including around 7.26 lakh in Bihar. Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari-Catch the Rain (JSJB-CTR) was launched on 1 June 2026 to carry the effort forward
Develop or rejuvenate at least 75 water bodies in every district of the country
Key: Nearly 69,000 Amrit Sarovars developed or rejuvenated, including 2,613 in Bihar
Improve physical access to irrigation, raise on-farm water use efficiency and promote sustainable water conservation
Key: Launched in 2015-16; its Surface Minor Irrigation and Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies schemes restore traditional water bodies and enhance recharge, while the Per Drop More Crop component of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare pushes micro-irrigation
Community-led sustainable groundwater management in water-stressed areas
Key: Launched on 25 December 2019 with World Bank support, covering identified water-stressed areas in seven States — Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — through village-level water security plans
Provide safe drinking water in arsenic-affected areas
Key: CGWB has developed a cement-sealing technology for tapping deeper arsenic-safe aquifers; 525 arsenic-safe exploratory wells have been constructed nationally, including 40 in Bihar, and the technology has been shared with State Governments
Water — including water supply, irrigation and canals, drainage, embankments and water storage — is Entry 17 of the State List, subject to Entry 56 of the Union List on inter-State rivers and river valleys. This is why the Centre acts through scientific studies, technical guidance, policy support and financial assistance rather than direct implementation
The provision under which the Central Ground Water Authority was constituted, giving it powers to regulate and control groundwater development and management
CGWB's approved SOP governs sampling frequency and density, with denser and more frequent sampling in vulnerable areas
Per capita annual availability below 1,700 cubic metres is conventionally treated as water-stressed and below 1,000 cubic metres as water-scarce; the CWC's 2021 figure of 1,573.19 cubic metres places India in the stressed band
Fluorosis from excess fluoride and arsenicosis from arsenic are largely geogenic contamination problems — the arsenic belt runs through the Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvial plains, which is why CGWB's cement-sealing technology for deeper arsenic-safe aquifers matters most in Bihar and West Bengal
Unlike fluoride and arsenic, nitrate in groundwater is largely anthropogenic, traced to nitrogenous fertiliser use and sanitation — which links this topic to fertiliser subsidy reform
EC is used as a proxy for total dissolved salts; readings above the permissible limit indicate salinity, a coastal and arid-zone problem often caused by over-extraction inducing saline ingress
GS Paper 1 > Geography > Water Resources; GS Paper 3 > Environment and Conservation
General Awareness > Environment and Government Schemes
General Awareness > Environment
Which of the following is/are the possible consequence/s of heavy sand mining in riverbeds? 1. Decreased salinity in the river 2. Pollution of groundwater 3. Lowering of the water-table Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 2 and 3 only
Groundwater assessment data, CGWA and water conservation schemes appear in almost every Prelims cycle
The ratio of Annual Ground Water Extraction to Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource; India's stood at 60.63% in the 2025 assessment
The portion of annual recharge available for extraction after setting aside natural discharge — 408 BCM against 449 BCM of total recharge
An assessment unit where the stage of extraction exceeds 100%, meaning more groundwater is withdrawn annually than is replenished
National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme; NAQUIM 1.0 covered about 25 lakh sq km, and NAQUIM 2.0 focuses on high-resolution mapping in priority water-stressed and quality-affected areas