Water Stressed Districts

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) periodically assess the ground water resources pan-India in collaboration with States/Uts. As per the 2017 assessment, out of the total 6881 assessment units (Block/ Taluks/ Mandals/ watersheds/ Firkas) in the country, 1186 units (17 percent of the 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. State-wise status of assessment units are given in Annexure I.

As per the Central Water Commission (CWC) report entitled “Reassessment of Water Availability in India using Space Inputs”, the average annual water resources potential in the country is assessed as 1999.20 BCM. Details of basin-wise water availability is enclosed at Annexure-II.

Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including conservation and 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 at the following URL:

http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf.

In addition, a number of States have done notable work in the field of water conservation/harvesting. Of these, mention can be made of ‘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 among others.

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. The districts were selected based on the groundwater extraction level as per the information available with the CGWB. 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. Further, Ministry launched ‘JSA-II-Catch the Rain’ on 21 December 2020 for awareness generation among people.

Government of India is implementing Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs. 6000 Crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation. Atal Jal is being implemented in 80 water stressed districts of Seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as a pilot project. The districts have been identified based on the criticality of groundwater situations as proposed by the participating States.

CGWB periodically assess the Dynamic Ground Water Resources of the country in collaboration with States/UTs. The next assessment for the year 2020 is under process.

Central Government supports construction of water harvesting and conservation works primarily through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Watershed Development Component (PMKSY-WDC). The expenditure on water related works under MGNREGA during the last three years is given at Annexure III. Further, State-wise details of water harvesting structures created under PMKSY-WDC is given at Annexure IV.

Further other steps by the Central Government may be seen in the URL : http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf.

Annexure I

Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) & (b) of Unstarred Question No. 3840 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 18.03.2021 regarding “Water Stressed Districts”.

CATEGORIZATION OF BLOCKS/ MANDALS/ TALUKAS IN INDIA (2017)
S.No.	States / Union Territories	Total No. of Assessed Units	Safe		Semi-Critical		Critical		Over-Exploited		Saline
			Nos.	%	Nos.	%	Nos.	%	Nos.	%	Nos.	%
	States
1	Andhra Pradesh	670	501	75	60	9	24	4	45	7	40	6
2	Arunachal Pradesh	11	11	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Assam	28	28	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Bihar	534	432	81	72	13	18	3	12	2	0	0
5	Chattisgarh	146	122	84	22	15	2	1	0	0	0	0
6	Delhi	34	3	9	7	21	2	6	22	65	0	0
7	Goa	12	12	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Gujarat	248	194	78	11	4	5	2	25	10	13	5
9	Haryana	128	26	20	21	16	3	2	78	61	0	0
10	Himachal Pradesh	8	3	38	1	13	0	0	4	50	0	0
11	Jammu & Kashmir	22	22	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Jharkhand	260	245	94	10	4	2	1	3	1	0	0
13	Karnataka	176	97	55	26	15	8	5	45	26	0	0
14	Kerala	152	119	78	30	20	2	1	1	1	0	0
15	Madhya Pradesh	313	240	77	44	14	7	2	22	7	0	0
16	Maharashtra	353	271	77	61	17	9	3	11	3	1	0
17	Manipur	9	9	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	Meghalaya	11	11	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Mizoram	26	26	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Nagaland	11	11	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	Odisha	314	303	96	5	2	0	0	0	0	6	2
22	Punjab	138	22	16	5	4	2	1	109	79	0	0
23	Rajasthan	295	45	15	29	10	33	11	185	63	3	1
24	Sikkim	4	4	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	Tamil Nadu	1166	427	37	163	14	79	7	462	40	35	3
26	Telangana	584	278	48	169	29	67	11	70	12	0	0
27	Tripura	59	59	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	Uttar Pradesh*	830	540	65	151	18	48	6	91	11	0	0
29	Uttarakhand	18	13	72	5	28	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	West Bengal **	268	191	71	76	28	1	0	0	0	0	0
	Total States	6828	4265	62	968	14	312	5	1185	17	98	1
	Union Territories
1	Andaman & Nicobar	36	35	97	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3
2	Chandigarh	1	0	0	1	100	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	1	1	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Daman & Diu	2	1	50	0	0	1	50	0	0	0	0
5	Lakshdweep	9	6	67	3	33	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Puducherry	4	2	50	0	0	0	0	1	25	1	25
	Total UTs	53	45	85	4	8	1	2	1	2	2	4
	Grand Total	6881	4310	63	972	14	313	5	1186	17	100	1
Note
Blocks– Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, M.P., Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal
Taluks -Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra
Mandals – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana
Districts/Valley– Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland
Islands – Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Firka-Tamil Nadu
Region – Puducherry
UT – Chandigarh, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu
Tehsil-NCT Delhi
*Uttar Pradesh: There are total 820 block and 10 Cities
**The Ground Water resources assessment as on 2013 has been considered for the state of West Bengal

 

ANNEXURE-II

Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) & (b) of Unstarred Question No. 3840 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 18.03.2021 regarding “Water Stressed Districts”.

Basin-wise Details of Average Annual Water Availability in India.

Sl. No.	River Basin	Catchment area (sq.km)	Average Water Resources Potential (BCM)
1.	Indus	317708	45.53
2	Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna
	(a) Ganga	838803	509.52
	(b) Brahmaputra	193252	527.28
	(c) Barak & others	86335	86.67
3.	Godavari	312150	117.74
4.	Krishna	259439	89.04
5.	Cauvery	85167	27.67
6.	Subarnarekha	26804	15.05
7.	Brahmani-Baitarani	53902	35.65
8.	Mahanadi	144905	73.00
9.	Pennar	54905	11.02
10.	Mahi	39566	14.96
11.	Sabarmati	31901	12.96
12.	Narmada	96659.79	58.21
13.	Tapi	65805.80	26.24
14.	West Flowing Rivers from Tapi to Tadri	58360	118.35
15.	West Flowing Rivers from Tadri to Kanyakumari	54231	119.06
16.	East Flowing Rivers between Mahanadi and Pennar	82073	26.41
17.	East Flowing Rivers between Pennar & Kanyakumari	101657	26.74
18.	West Flowing rivers of Kutch and Surashtra including Luni	192112	26.93
19.	Area of Inland Drainage in Rajasthan	144835.90	Negligible
20.	Minor Rivers draining into Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh	31382	31.17
	Total	3271953	1999.20

Source: Reassessment of Water Availability in India using Space Inputs, June 2019.

ANNEXURE-III

Annexure referred to in reply to part (f) of Unstarred Question No.3840 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 18.03.2021 regarding “Water Stressed Districts”.

The works taken up on Water Conservation & Water Harvesting under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in last three year & current year in all States/UTs.

 

WATER CONSERVATION & WATER HARVESTING WORKS TAKEN UP UNDER MAHATMA GANDHI NREGA IN ALL STATES/UTS (as on 15th March 2021)
YEAR	COMPLETED		ONGING
	NUMBER OF WORKS	EXPENDITURE (in Rs. Lakh)	NUMBER OF WORKS	EXPENDITURE (in Rs. Lakh)
2020-21	4,09,727	5,94,210.71	9,96,961	15,27,538.27
2019-20	3,61,683	8,66,406.33	7,44,236	4,43,911.50
2018-19	3,16,917	8,08,484.14	6,04,991	2,26,140.19
2017-18	3,81,705	6,11,878.52	4,70,559	69,815.22

 

Annexure-IV

Annexure referred to in reply to part (f) of Unstarred Question No. 3840 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 18.03.2021 regarding “Water Stressed Districts”.

State-wise details of WHS created/rejuvenated under PMKSY-WDC during 2015-16 to 2020-21 (as on 30.09.2020)

 

Note: Provisional and subject to change (As per information received from States)

* erstwhile J&K

This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Rattan Lal Kataria in Lok Sabha today.