Question : Depletion in Ground Water

(a) whether the Government has recently announced setting up a panel of secretaries to tackle the issue of ground water depletion;

(b) if so, the details and the composition thereof along with the time by which the panel is likely to submit its report to the Government;

(c) whether the Government has taken any steps during the past three years to check the depletion of ground water; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the extent to which the Government has succeeded in curbing depletion of ground water in various parts of the country?

Answer given by the minister

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION
(DR. SANJEEV KUMAR BALYAN)
(a) & (b) In order to ensure sustainable withdrawal and effective utilization of ground water and its management, an Inter Ministerial Committee has been constituted. Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, RD & GR is the convener of the Committee which consists of Secretaries of Ministries of Rural Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Panchayati Raj, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Environment & Forests and Climate Change. The Committee had its meeting on 5.5.2017 and minutes have been issued.
(c) & (d) Steps taken by the Central Government for conservation of ground water are available at the following URL http://mowr.gov.in/writereaddata/GW_Depletion.pdf.

The comparison of assessment of ground water resources of the country carried out jointly by Central Ground Water Board and State Ground Water Departments in 2011 and 2013, reveals that 343 assessment units have shown improvement in categorization (Overexploited/Critical/Semi-critical) during successive assessments. State-wise table is given in Annexure.

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ANNEXURE

Annexure referred to in reply to parts (c) & (d) Unstarred Q.No. 1977 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 27.07.2017 regarding “Depletion in Ground Water”

State-wise details of Assessment Units Improved
(from Year 2011 to 2013)

Sl.No State/UT Improved
1 Andhra Pradesh 9
2 Bihar 3
3 Delhi 9
4 Gujarat 5
5 Haryana 27
6 Himachal Pradesh 1
7 Jharkhand 5
8 Karnataka* -
9 Kerala 11
10 Madhya Pradesh 13
11 Maharashtra 5
12 Punjab 11
13 Rajasthan 39
14 Tamil Nadu 82
15 Telangana 27
16 Uttar Pradesh 87
17 Uttarakhand 6
18 West Bengal 1
State Total 341
Union Territories
1 Daman & Diu 2
UTs Total 2
Grand Total 343


*Karnataka: In 2011, the Ground water Resources assessment was carried out with Command and Non Command areas as Assessment Units. However, during 2013 assessment the same has been done Taluk wise. Therefore, comparison of categorization of Assessment units could not be made.


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