Environment and Disaster Management › Pollution

Groundwater 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 30 September 2026.Show all

Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari

Prelims and Mains

Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB), launched in September 2024, builds low cost artificial recharge structures with the community as their owner.

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.
It pays for that work and leaves the structure with the community that built it.
It is guided by the 3Cs of Community, Corporate Social Responsibility and Cost.
It merged with Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain in June 2026.
Models from the States include Chhattisgarh's Aawa Paani Jhoki, Andhra Pradesh's ridge to valley treatment and Odisha's rooftop rainwater harvesting.
Structure counts measure effort rather than outcome, so aquifer levels and demand side measures are the test of it.

What changed

3 Sep 2026
- More than 1.58 crore recharge structures had been built in its first two years.
PIB, 3 Sep 2026: Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari: From Local Action to Water Security (opens in a new tab)