Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is implementing ‘National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme’ (NAQUIM) for aquifer mapping in the country including in areas which have recorded a high depletion of ground water, in phases. Out of the total mappable area of nearly 25 lakh sq km, so far aquifer maps and management plans have been prepared for an area of nearly 11.24 lakh sq km spread over various parts of the country. As per the ground water resource assessment carried out jointly by CGWB and State ground water departments, 1186 assessment units in the country have been categorized as over-exploited, of which aquifer mapping has been completed in nearly 75% Units.

 Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan which is a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach intended to improve water availability including ground water conditions in the water stressed blocks of 256 districts in India. In this regard, teams of officers from Central Government along-with technical officers from Ministry of Jal Shakti were deputed to visit water stressed districts and to work in close collaboration with district level officials to undertake suitable interventions for sustainable water management.

Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including conservation and artificial recharge to ground water in the Country is primarily States’ responsibility. The important measures taken by the Central Government for conservation, management of ground water and effective implementation of rain water harvesting in the country are at the following URL:

http://mowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Jun2019.pdf.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Social Justice and Empowerment,  Shri Rattan Lal Kataria  in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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