Impending water crisis: Ahmedabad utilises 152% groundwater

Soon, the groundwater demands of Ahmedabad would be hard to meet, as the city is currently utilising more than it could reinstate its groundwater. According to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)’s Dynamic Groundwater Resources Report 2023, Ahmedabad is utilising 152% of its available groundwater.

If the current situation persists, groundwater in Ahmedabad will be depleted, leading to a severe water crisis.

In 2023, the groundwater recharged in Ahmedabad stood at 13,381.73 ham (groundwater level recharge unit), with rainfall amounting to 8,944.47 ham and other sources recharging 2,026 ham. A total of 2,411.08 ham groundwater came from other sources in the non monsoon season.

Out of this inflow, the environmental flows took away 669.08 ham, leaving the extractable groundwater at 12,712.65 ham.

Compared to that, the extraction draft for 2023 stood at 19,423.60 ham, 152% of the intake received.

Not only this has left the city with zero available groundwater for the future according to the report, but has put Ahmedabad groundwater reserves in ‘over-exploited’ category.

The groundwater was used for irrigation (18,279 ham), industrial (325.24 ham), and domestic needs (819.36 ham).

According to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), while rainfall significantly helps recharge groundwater, the rate of groundwater usage surpassing the recharge rate leads to depletion of reserves.

Ahmedabad’s groundwater extraction issue

According to central government directives, prior approval is required for constructing borewells to extract groundwater. Additionally, violating the regulations can result in fines up to ₹1 lakh.

However, there is no control over borewell construction, leading to unregulated extraction of groundwater.

Furthermore, groundwater is also sold commercially in Ahmedabad, according to reports. The government has not formulated a specific policy on this matter, making groundwater depletion inevitable.

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