As per latest assessment carried out jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Government Departments for 2011, out of 6607 assessment units in the Country, 1071 assessment units in 15 States and 3 UTs are categorized as ‘Over-exploited’. Reasons for depletion of ground water resources is mainly due to growing population, urbanization and industrialization.

In view of growing population, the per capita water availability in India is reducing progressively.  The average annual per capita water availability in the years 2001 and 2011 was assessed as 1820 cubic meters and 1545 cubic meters respectively, which may reduce further to 1341 and 1140 in the years 2025 and 2050 respectively.

Steps taken by the Government for conservation of surface and ground water are available at the following URL http://mowr.gov.in/writereaddata/GW_Depletion.pdf.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation  DR. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in a written reply in Lok Sabha today. -WTN