Environment › Pollution
Groundwater and water conservation
Groundwater and water conservation: how the water drawn is measured against what is recharged, the regulation of extraction, recharge and rainwater harvesting, and water policy. Prelims has asked about the Central Ground Water Authority and which body was constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2022: the body constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
- Prelims 2020: the Central Ground Water Authority and groundwater irrigation
All 5 subjects shown; the 0 that changed from 16 to 31 August 2026 are marked.Show only these
Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment
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India does not measure its groundwater as one national pool, because an aquifer is emptied locally and refilled locally. The Central Ground Water Board counts it with the States unit by unit, so that a comfortable average cannot hide a district drawing more than it recharges.
- The Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment is the Central Ground Water Board's yearly stocktaking with the States, made unit by unit rather than for the country as a whole.
- Each unit is graded safe, semi critical, critical or over exploited by its stage of groundwater extraction, which the 2025 Assessment put at 60.63 per cent for India as a whole.
- Annual recharge is 449 billion cubic metres, of which 408 billion is extractable and 247 billion is extracted.
- Irrigation takes 87 per cent of what is extracted, domestic use 11 per cent and industry 2 per cent.
- Extraction runs above the national average in 281 districts and in nine States and Union Territories, among them Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.
What changed
Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari
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Where a unit is drawing more than it recharges, the cheapest response is to lead rainwater back underground, and that is work a village can do for itself. Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari pays for it and leaves the structure with the community that built it.
- Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB), launched in September 2024, builds low cost artificial recharge structures with the community as their owner, guided by the 3Cs of Community, Corporate Social Responsibility and Cost.
- It merged with Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain in June 2026.
- More than 1.58 crore recharge structures had been built in its first two years.
- Structure counts measure effort rather than outcome, so aquifer levels and demand side measures are the test of it.
Chhattisgarh, Korea district
- Aawa Paani Jhoki: farmers gave 5% of their land to recharge ponds and pits
- Groundwater up 3 to 4 metres in many villages
Andhra Pradesh, Prakasam district
- Ridge to valley: treating rainwater from the higher ridges down to the valley
- Water budgeting and crop planning
Odisha
- CHHATA (Community Harnessing and Harvesting of Rainwater Artificially from Terrace to Aquifer): rooftop rainwater harvesting
- ARUA (Artificial Recharge to Underground Aquifer): recharge from ponds and water bodies
What changed
Atal Bhujal Yojana
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Atal Bhujal Yojana was a central scheme for community led groundwater management in water stressed blocks of seven States, in which every gram panchayat prepared a water budget and a water security plan.
What changed
30 Jul 2026New subject
- The scheme closed on 15 October 2025 and will not continue as a central scheme. The government calls it a completed pilot for States to replicate.
- It covered 8,203 water stressed gram panchayats in 229 blocks across seven States, and groundwater levels improved in 180 of those blocks.
- Every panchayat prepared a water budget and a water security plan, and about 9.7 lakh hectares came under efficient water use.
Mains: it is the evidence that community water budgeting on the demand side can lift water tables.
PIB, 30 Jul 2026: Implementation and Impact of Atal Bhujal Yojana (opens in a new tab)
Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0
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The Jal Jeevan Mission is the central scheme for a functional tap water connection to every rural household, at 55 litres a person a day of water meeting the Bureau of Indian Standards specification IS 10500.
What changed
27 Jul 2026New subject
- The Cabinet has extended the mission to December 2028 and raised the total outlay from ₹3.60 lakh crore to ₹8.69 lakh crore.
- As on 18 July 2026 about 82 per cent of rural households had tap water, against about 17 per cent in August 2019.
- Water must meet the Bureau of Indian Standards specification IS 10500 at 55 litres per person per day.
PIB, 27 Jul 2026: 15.89 Crore Rural Households Connected to Functional Household Tap Connections Under JJM (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 30 Jul 2026: WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT UNDER JAL JEEVAN MISSION (opens in a new tab)
Non revenue water
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Non revenue water is water put into a supply network and lost to leaks, theft or unbilled use before it earns the utility anything, and Indian cities lose more than a third of what they produce this way.
What changed
28 Jul 2026New subjectalso in news
- Urban water utilities lose more than 30 per cent of the water they produce before it is billed, and only about 27 per cent of sewage is treated. Non revenue water is water put into the network and lost to leaks, theft or unbilled use.