Decline in Ground Water Level

Ground water levels in some parts of the Country are declining because of continuous withdrawal necessitated by increased demand of fresh water for various uses, vagaries of rainfall, increased population, industrialization & urbanization etc.

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is periodically monitoring the ground water levels throughout the Country on a regional scale, through a network of monitoring wells. In order to assess the long term fluctuation in ground water level, the water level data collected by CGWB during November 2020 has been compared with the decadal mean of November (2010-2019). Analysis of water level data (Annexure) indicates that about 38% of the wells monitored have registered decline in ground water levels, mostly in the range of 0.0 – 2.0 m. Further, about 62 % wells have also registered rise in groundwater levels mostly in the range of 0.0 – 2.0 m.

Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including conservation & water harvesting in the Country is primarily States’ responsibility.  However, the important measures taken by the Central Government for conservation, management of ground water and effective implementation of rain water harvesting in the country are available at the following URL:http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf. Some of the important initiatives in this regard are listed below.

Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in 2019, a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach intended to improve water availability including ground water conditions in the water stressed blocks of  256  districts  in India. In this regard, teams of officers from Central Government along-with technical officers from Ministry of Jal Shakti were deputed to visit water stressed districts and to work in close collaboration with district level officials to undertake suitable interventions. In addition ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan – Catch the Rain’ campaign has been launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 22 March 2021.

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is implementing National Aquifer Mapping and Management program (NAQUIM), which envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), their characterization and development of Aquifer Management Plans to facilitate sustainable management of Ground Water Resources.  The State-wise information is shared with States/Uts for implementation.

Ministry of Jalshakti, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR (DoWR, RD & GR) is implementing AtalBhujalYojana (AtalJal), a Rs.6,000.00 crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation. AtalJal is being implemented in 81 water stressed districts and 8774 Gram Panchayats of seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Central Government supports construction of water harvesting and conservation works primarily through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), PradhanMantriKrishiSinchayeeYojana – Watershed Development Component (PMKSY-WDC).

Further, a number of States have done notable work in the field of water conservation/harvesting for sustainable management of water resources.  Of these, mention can be made of ‘MukhyamantriJalSwavlambanAbhiyan’ in Rajasthan, ‘JalyuktShibar’ in Maharashtra, ‘SujalamSufalamAbhiyan’ in Gujarat, ‘Mission Kakatiya’ in Telangana, NeeruChettu’ in Andhra Pradesh, JalJeevanHariyali in Bihar, ‘Jal Hi Jeevan’ in Haryana among others.

 

Government of India in partnership with States, is implementing JalJeevan Mission (JJM) since August, 2019 to provide potable tap water supply of prescribed quality to every rural household in the country by 2024. Under JJM, while planning water supply schemes to provide tap water supply to house-holds, priority is given to quality-affected habitations. While allocating the funds to States/ UTs in a particular financial year, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants including Arsenic and Fluoride, as on 31st March of the preceding Financial Year.

Since, planning, implementation and commissioning of piped water supply schemes based on a safe water source may take time, purely as an interim measure, States/ UTs have been advised to install community water purification plants (CWPPs) in such habitations, to provide potable water to every household at the rate of 8–10 litre per capita per day (lpcd) to meet their drinking and cooking requirements.

Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation had launched a National Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM) on 22^nd March, 2017 as a part of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), which has now been subsumed under JalJeevan Mission, to provide safe drinking water to 27,544 Arsenic/ Fluoride affected rural habitations in the country.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Food Processing Industries, ShriPrahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the LokSabha today.

AS/SK

Annexure

State-wise Decadal Water Level Fluctuation with Mean [November (2010 to 2019] and November 2020
S. No.	Name of State	No. of wells Analysed	Rise						Fall						Rise		Fall		Wells showing no change
			0-2 m		2-4 m		>4 m		0-2 m		2-4 m		>4 m
			No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%
1	Andhra Pradesh	688	395	57.4	92	13.4	38	5.5	146	21.2	12	1.7	5	0.7	525	76	163	24	0	0
2	Arunachal Pradesh	3	3	100.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	3	100	0	0	0	0
3	Assam	158	113	71.5	5	3.2	2	1.3	35	22.2	3	1.9	0	0.0	120	76	38	24	0	0
4	Bihar	536	284	53.0	41	7.6	4	0.7	184	34.3	17	3.2	6	1.1	329	61	207	39	0	0
5	Chandigarh	11	3	27.3	2	18.2	0	0.0	5	45.5	0	0.0	1	9.1	5	45	6	55	0	0
6	Chhattisgarh	700	261	37.3	41	5.9	15	2.1	312	44.6	53	7.6	18	2.6	317	45	383	55	0	0
7	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	17	11	64.7	2	11.8	1	5.9	3	17.6	0	0.0	0	0.0	14	82	3	18	0	0
8	Daman & Diu	9	7	77.8	0	0.0	0	0.0	2	22.2	0	0.0	0	0.0	7	78	2	22	0	0
9	Delhi	80	11	13.8	3	3.8	4	5.0	31	38.8	19	23.8	12	15.0	18	23	62	78	0	0
10	Goa	65	7	10.8	0	0.0	1	1.5	50	76.9	7	10.8	0	0.0	8	12	57	88	0	0
11	Gujarat	736	279	37.9	93	12.6	116	15.8	179	24.3	49	6.7	20	2.7	488	66	248	34	0	0
12	Haryana	312	83	26.6	5	1.6	7	2.2	94	30.1	44	14.1	78	25.0	95	30	216	69	1	0
13	Himachal Pradesh	88	31	35.2	3	3.4	2	2.3	47	53.4	3	3.4	2	2.3	36	41	52	59	0	0
14	Jammu & Kashmir	163	42	25.8	3	1.8	2	1.2	106	65.0	9	5.5	1	0.6	47	29	116	71	0	0
15	Jharkhand	276	162	58.7	42	15.2	17	6.2	49	17.8	5	1.8	1	0.4	221	80	55	20	0	0
16	Karnataka	1316	632	48.0	181	13.8	123	9.3	325	24.7	33	2.5	22	1.7	936	71	380	29	0	0
17	Kerala	1334	537	40.3	24	1.8	6	0.4	738	55.3	23	1.7	6	0.4	567	43	767	57	0	0
18	Madhya Pradesh	1294	594	45.9	160	12.4	43	3.3	372	28.7	83	6.4	42	3.2	797	62	497	38	0	0
19	Maharashtra**	3611	1815	50.3	592	16.4	262	7.3	869	24.1	53	1.5	20	0.6	2669	74	942	26	0	0
20	Meghalaya	23	13	56.5	1	4.3	0	0.0	9	39.1	0	0.0	0	0.0	14	61	9	39	0	0
21	Nagaland	2	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	1	50.0	1	50.0	0	0.0	0	0	2	100	0	0
22	Odhisha	1204	762	63.3	47	3.9	6	0.5	366	30.4	19	1.6	3	0.2	815	68	388	32	1	0
23	Pondicherry	6	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	4	66.7	2	33.3	0	0.0	0	0	6	100	0	0
24	Punjab	250	55	22.0	10	4.0	3	1.2	89	35.6	38	15.2	54	21.6	68	27	181	72	1	0
25	Rajasthan	962	271	28.2	89	9.3	69	7.2	288	29.9	105	10.9	137	14.2	429	45	530	55	3	0
26	Tamil Nadu	629	211	33.5	64	10.2	44	7.0	192	30.5	55	8.7	62	9.9	319	51	309	49	1	0
27	Telangana	549	200	36.4	121	22.0	177	32.2	45	8.2	3	0.5	3	0.5	498	91	51	9	0	0
28	Tripura	21	18	85.7	0	0.0	0	0.0	2	9.5	1	4.8	0	0.0	18	86	3	14	0	0
29	Uttar Pradesh	632	264	41.8	43	6.8	14	2.2	240	38.0	48	7.6	23	3.6	321	51	311	49	0	0
30	Uttarakhand	47	13	27.7	2	4.3	1	2.1	21	44.7	8	17.0	2	4.3	16	34	31	66	0	0
31	West Bengal	633	264	41.7	65	10.3	42	6.6	167	26.4	45	7.1	49	7.7	371	59	261	41	1	0
Total		16355	7341	44.9	1731	10.6	999	6.1	4971	30.4	738	4.5	567	3.5	10071	62	6276	38	8	0