Problem

Groundwater is drawn faster than it is replenished in about one in ten assessment units

• National

The 2025 Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment by the Central Ground Water Board and the States classified 730 of 6,762 assessment units (10.80 per cent) as over-exploited — extraction exceeding annual recharge — with a further 201 critical and 758 semi-critical. Nationally, extraction for all uses was 60.63 per cent of the extractable resource. The share of over-exploited units is falling: it was 11.1 per cent in the 2024 assessment, which also reported improvement in 128 units over 2023. The assessment counts irrigation, industrial and domestic extraction together; this entry does not apportion it between them. Evidence confidence: High.