Stage of groundwater extraction, CGWB 2024
The Central Ground Water Board's 2024 assessment has India drawing 60.5 per cent of its annual extractable groundwater, against 59.3 per cent in 2023. Five states and territories draw more than the assessment counts as recharged: Punjab (156.9 per cent), Rajasthan (149.9), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (142.2), Haryana (136.0) and Delhi (100.8). Arunachal Pradesh (0.4), the Andamans (2.1), Mizoram (4.0), Meghalaya (4.6) and Nagaland (4.7) draw almost none.
Policy implication
A state average hides blocks that are over-exploited inside states that look safe, and aquifers that differ in depth and recharge, so it cannot say where a well will run dry. A stage above 100 per cent is a yearly balance, not a measure of how much water is left. The figures come from the RBI Handbook's reproduction of the board's assessment, and Daman and Diu is counted with Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 2024. The earlier map counted over-exploited blocks, which is a different measure.
A state average hides blocks that are over-exploited inside states that look safe, and aquifers that differ in depth and recharge, so it cannot say where a well will run dry. A stage above 100 per cent is a yearly balance, not a measure of how much water is left. The figures come from the RBI Handbook's reproduction of the board's assessment, and Daman and Diu is counted with Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 2024. The earlier map counted over-exploited blocks, which is a different measure.
Data vintage. The figures are for 2024 and have not been refreshed since this map was made.
Source: CGWB via RBI Handbook of Statistics on Indian States (2024). See the methodology for notes and limitations.
Part of ImpactMojo. Maps are pedagogical tools for facilitated discussion, not standalone data references. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.