New Delhi: Nearly 11 per cent of India’s groundwater assessment units have been classified as over-exploited, the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday, while noting that the overall status of groundwater extraction has improved over the past eight years.
In a written reply to the Upper House, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary said that out of the country’s 6,762 groundwater resource assessment units—including blocks, taluks, and mandals—730 units (10.8 per cent) are categorised as “over-exploited”, where annual groundwater extraction exceeds the annual groundwater recharge.
The minister said 201 assessment units (2.97 per cent) have been classified as “critical”, 758 units (11.21 per cent) as “semi-critical”, 4,946 units (73.14 per cent) as “safe”, and 127 units (1.88 per cent) as “saline”.
The government said that despite the continued pressure on groundwater resources in certain regions, the overall stage of groundwater extraction across the country has shown improvement during the last eight years.
