Environment and Disaster Management › Pollution
हिन्दी — Read in HindiGroundwater and water conservation
Groundwater and water conservation: the assessments that grade India's aquifers, the rules on drawing water, and the schemes that recharge wells and harvest rain. Prelims has asked about the Central Ground Water Authority and which body was constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Foundation note: Groundwater: the assessment, the four grades and who may regulate a well
Showing 1 of 5 articles, those that changed from 1 to 31 August 2026.Show all
Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment
Copy link to Dynamic Ground Water Resources AssessmentPrelims and Mains
The Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment is the Central Ground Water Board's yearly stocktaking of groundwater with the States, made unit by unit rather than for the country as a whole.
- An aquifer is emptied locally and refilled locally, so a comfortable national average could hide a district drawing more than it recharges.
- Each unit is graded safe, semi critical, critical or over exploited by its stage of groundwater extraction.
What changed
10 Aug 2026New
- The 2025 Assessment put the stage of groundwater extraction at 60.63 per cent for India as a whole.
- Irrigation takes 87 per cent of what is extracted.
- Extraction runs above the national average in nine States and Union Territories, among them Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.
PIB, 10 Aug 2026: Groundwater assessment 2025 (opens in a new tab)