Groundwater: A Valuable but Diminishing Resource” Report
March 25 , 2023 761 days 529 0
This report was tabled in Parliament by the Standing Committee on Water Resources.
Of the total annual extractable groundwater resource of 398 billion cubic metres (BCM) in the country till 2020, 245 BCM was being extracted.
It indicated there was a decrease in the overall level of groundwater extraction from 63.3 per cent in 2017 to 61.6 per cent in 2020.
Groundwater levels in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and 20 other cities dipped by more than 20 metres from 2017 to 2020.
Haryana’s Faridabad has become 100 per cent dependent on groundwater use.
Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, which are extracting 97%, 90% and 86% of groundwater, respectively.
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are also significant users of groundwater for irrigation as they are using approximately 89%, 92% and 90%, respectively.