Groundwater crisis: Govt looking to overhaul monitoring, management

livemint.com:

Mint. As it stands, the Central Ground Water Board and state governments agencies collaborate to periodically assess the country's groundwater resources. A 2022 assessment showed the annual extractable ground water resource at 398 billion cubic meter (BCM).

Further, the annual ground water extraction for all use cases was at 239.16 BCM, out of which, 87% was utilized for agricultural activities. The availability of groundwater resource and its extraction depends on several factors such as the intensity and period of rainfall, geological strata of the region, the number of existing recharge structures, extraction by consumers for various purposes like industrial application, drinking/domestic use, and irrigation practices that include cropping pattern and crop intensity, among other aspects. According to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2022, India was among the top 10 countries with the highest share in global groundwater withdrawal in 2017.

“At the initial stage, we are targeting 40,000 DWLRs across the country. DWLRs have better flexibility in terms of capturing data; we can set the frequency to six hours. Some of the DWLRs also have water quality testing facilities," the official said.

This will help agencies monitor groundwater at six-hour intervals, with the entire information being made available on servers through a satellite or mobile reporting system. Details on the financial outlay for the scheme were not provided. However, the Atal Bhujal Yojana with an outlay ₹6,000 crore, has been in implementation since 2019 and focusses on demand side management of groundwater.