India is staring at a rapidly intensifying groundwater crisis, with several states and major cities moving dangerously close to a point where usable water may simply run out. Across urban neighbourhoods and rural landscapes, scenes of water tankers, empty wells and long queues have become a daily reminder that water scarcity is no longer a future threat but a lived reality for millions.
In narrow city lanes, residents wait silently with plastic drums for tankers to arrive, while in villages, women walk kilometres in search of a few litres of water from drying wells and shrinking ponds. These contrasting yet connected realities underline a single truth: despite episodes of flooding in some regions, India as a whole is running short of freshwater.
India supports nearly 17 percent of the world’s population but has access to only about 4 percent of global freshwater resources. According to the World Bank, a country is considered water-scarce when annual per capita water availability falls below 1,000 cubic metres. India is steadily approaching this line.
Government estimates show that per capita water availability, which stood at 1,486 cubic metres in 2021, could drop to 1,341 cubic metres by 2025 and further to 1,140 cubic metres by 2050. The NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index has already warned that nearly 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress, making this the worst water crisis in the country’s history.
Groundwater forms the backbone of India’s water security, supplying around 62 percent of irrigation needs, 85 percent of rural drinking water and nearly half of urban water demand. Yet this invisible lifeline is being extracted far faster than it can be replenished.
According to the Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment Report 2025, India’s total annual groundwater recharge is estimated at 448.52 billion cubic metres, while extractable resources stand at 407.75 billion cubic metres. Current extraction has already reached 247.22 billion cubic metres, pushing the national stage of groundwater extraction to over 60 percent.
Behind this national average lies a deeply uneven reality. Nearly one-fourth of India’s groundwater assessment units are now categorised as overexploited, critical or semi-critical, indicating that aquifers in large parts of the country are under severe stress.
The most vulnerable regions are clustered in three broad zones. In northwest India, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh face heavy over-extraction driven largely by agriculture. In western India, Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat struggle with low natural recharge due to arid conditions. In southern peninsular India, states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh depend on hard rock aquifers with limited storage capacity.
Punjab remains the most overexploited state, extracting more than 156 percent of its annual groundwater recharge, followed closely by Rajasthan at 147 percent. Delhi’s extraction level exceeds 90 percent, placing it firmly in the critical category. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry also fall under high stress.
Urban centres are equally vulnerable. NITI Aayog has warned that 21 major Indian cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai, are at risk of exhausting their groundwater reserves. Chennai already witnessed a ‘Day Zero’ moment in 2019 when all its major reservoirs ran dry, forcing residents to depend almost entirely on tanker water.
Experts point to a web of interconnected causes driving the crisis. Rapid population growth and rising incomes are increasing water demand across sectors. Agriculture alone accounts for nearly 87 percent of groundwater extraction, with water-intensive crops like paddy continuing to dominate in states such as Punjab and Haryana.
Climate change has further aggravated the situation through erratic monsoons, rising temperatures and frequent droughts, while urbanisation has led to the encroachment and disappearance of lakes, ponds and wetlands. Pollution from sewage, industry and mining has contaminated nearly 70 percent of groundwater sources, compounding scarcity with quality concerns.
Weak regulation has worsened the problem. Groundwater laws dating back to the Easement Act of 1882 tie water ownership to land rights, allowing unchecked extraction. Fragmented governance, with separate authorities managing surface and groundwater, has left critical gaps in oversight.
What the government is doing
In response, the Centre and states have launched several initiatives. The Jal Shakti Abhiyan promotes water conservation, rainwater harvesting and recharge structures across districts. The Atal Bhujal Yojana focuses on community-led groundwater management in stressed regions, while urban programmes such as AMRUT 2.0 aim to integrate stormwater management with aquifer recharge.
The government has also introduced the Amrit Sarovar initiative to develop thousands of local water bodies and launched a GIS-based public platform to track groundwater recharge and extraction data at granular levels. Despite these efforts, experts warn that policies alone will not be enough without strict enforcement and behavioural change.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of India’s groundwater crisis is its invisibility. Over-extraction often goes unnoticed until wells run dry and tankers take over. An informal and largely unregulated water trade has emerged in many cities, where private operators extract groundwater illegally, accelerating depletion while raising serious health risks.
India may not be out of water yet, but the warning signs are unmistakable. Without urgent reforms in water governance, crop patterns, urban planning and public behaviour, many parts of the country could soon face irreversible groundwater collapse. The queues for tankers and the silence of dry wells are already telling a story the nation can no longer afford to ignore.