New Delhi [India], August 10 (ANI): As per the Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment, 2025, the entire Annual Ground Water Recharge of the nation has been assessed as 449 Billion Cubic Metres (BCM), Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource as 408 BCM and Annual Ground Water Extraction for all makes use of (representing groundwater consumption) as 247 BCM. Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil shared this data in Parliament on Monday.
Replying to a query in Rajya Sabha, Minister Patil said, ‘Of complete Annual Ground Water Extraction, 215 BCM (87%) is used for irrigation, 28 BCM (11%) for home functions, together with consuming water, and 4 BCM (2%) for industrial functions.’
He additionally mentioned that, ‘As per the Assessment, the Stage of Ground Water Extraction for the nation is 60.63 per cent. The Stage of Ground Water Extraction is greater than the nationwide common in 9 States/UTs viz Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Karnataka. Based on district-wise aggregation of the evaluation outcomes, 281 districts have a Stage of Ground Water Extraction greater than the nationwide common.’
‘As per the Assessment of Water Resources of India, 2024 carried out by the Central Water Commission (CWC), the estimated common annual per capita water availability for the yr 2021 was 1,573.19 cubic metres.’ He added.
On the groundwater high quality, CR Patil said that, ‘as per the Annual Ground Water Quality Report, 2025, groundwater within the nation is usually potable and almost 99 per cent of the monitoring stations have groundwater high quality appropriate for irrigation use. Since the prevalence and spatial distribution of particular person contaminants range significantly, CGWB doesn’t classify or rank States or districts by way of the poorest groundwater high quality.’
‘As per the Annual Ground Water Quality Report, 2025, groundwater high quality monitoring in Bihar signifies localized prevalence of salinity, fluoride, nitrate and so on. contamination. Out of 584 groundwater samples analysed, Electrical Conductivity exceeded the permissible restrict in 5 samples, fluoride in 39 samples and nitrate in 78 samples.’ He additional added.
Minister CR Patil, in his written response, additionally talked about the initiatives taken by Centre and state governments. He mentioned, ‘The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has accomplished aquifer mapping beneath National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM 1.0), masking about 25 lakh sq. km of the recognized mappable space of the nation, together with about 90,567 sq. km within the State of Bihar. During 2023-24 to 2025-26, NAQUIM 2.0 lined 143 research areas spanning about 76,857 sq. km throughout the nation, together with 5 high-resolution aquifer mapping research areas masking about 3,202.94 sq. km in Bihar.’
‘CGWB has developed an progressive cement-sealing know-how for tapping deeper arsenic-safe aquifers in arsenic-affected areas. Using this know-how, 525 arsenic-safe exploratory wells have been constructed, together with 40 wells in Bihar, and know-how has been shared with the State Governments for additional implementation.’ Jal Shakti Minister said additional.
Minister additionally highlighted initiatives beneath Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). He mentioned, ‘As on date, faucet water connections have been offered to fifteen.90 crore rural households, masking about 82 per cent of rural households within the nation, together with round 1.60 crore households (95.71 per cent) in Bihar. More than 2 crore water conservation and synthetic recharge works have been undertaken throughout the nation via convergence, together with round 5.75 lakh works in Bihar.’
‘To additional strengthen the momentum of JSA, the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) initiative was launched in 2024 with the target of constructing rainwater harvesting a individuals’s motion. More than 1.55 crore synthetic groundwater recharge and water-storage works have been constructed throughout the nation, together with round 7.26 lakh works in Bihar. Mission Amrit Sarovar was launched to develop and rejuvenate at the very least 75 water our bodies in each district of the nation. Nearly 69,000 Amrit Sarovars have been developed/rejuvenated, together with 2,613 in Bihar, contributing to enhanced water storage and groundwater recharge,’ said CR Patil. (ANI)