Reply affidavit on behalf of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) regarding state of groundwater in Haryana, 03/05/2025
Reply affidavit on behalf of the Central Ground Water Board in the matter of Suo Moto case titled "Haryana 60.48% groundwater over exploited Kurukshetra worst Jhajjar best says" appearing in the Tribune, January 8, 2025. The CGWA report, May 3, 2025 addresses the issue of groundwater exploitation and violation of the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and Environment Protection Act, 1986 in Haryana.
The report stated that the state of Haryana is chronically deficient in water resources. The present requirement of water for irrigation in the state is much more than the available surface and subsurface resources. The surface water available for utilization in the state is extremely limited. The perennial rivers of composite Punjab - the Satluj, the Beas and Ravi do not pass through the state of Haryana. The share of Haryana in the water in these rivers is being utilized through Bhakra canal in the western part of the state. The other source of surface water supply is frim river Yamuna which is insufficient and is shared by Haryana with Uttar Pradesh.
Groundwater is the largest available source of fresh water. A permanent state level committee for estimation of groundwater resources potential and refinement was constituted by the government of Haryana on March 28, 2023. The groundwater resources of all the blocks of the state are being assessed jointly by the Central Ground Water Board, North Western Region (NWRI), Chandigarh and Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Haryana. Groundwater resources have been estimated as of 2004, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. From the year 2022, the assessment is being carried out annually.
As per Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment 2024, total annual groundwater recharge of the state has been assessed as 10.32 bcm and annual extractable groundwater resource is 9.36 bcm. The total current annual groundwater extraction is 12.72 bcm and the stage of groundwater extraction is 135.96 per cent. Out of total 143 assessment units (blocks/urban) 88 units (61.54%) have been categorized as 'overexploited', 11 units (7.69%) as critical, 8 units (5.59%) as semi critical and 36 units (25.17%) as safe categories of assessment units. "As compared to 2023 assessment, the total annual groundwater recharge has increased from 9.55 to 10.31 bcm in 2024, annual extractable resources have also increased from 8.69 to 9.36 bcm and the annual groundwater extraction has increased from 11.80 to 12.72 bcm. The state of groundwater extraction has increased marginally from 135.74 to 135.96 per cent.
As per the Ground Water Resources Assessment 2024, it is established that the major use of groundwater in Haryana is in the agriculture sector. Out of 3.5 million hectares of total area under cultivation, 1.121 million hectare area is under tubewell irrigation. There are approximately 8.50 lakh irrigation tubewells present in the state.
The report also gave a number of suggestions / recommendations to have an effective and efficient utilization of groundwater. These include encouraging farmers to diversify from paddy and other water guzzling crops by adapting crop diversification programmes - promotion of alternate crops like maize, sunflower, cotton, vegetables, bajra and summer moong.