The Ground Water Department, and the various departments and institutions that are part of the State-level committee on Groundwater Resource Assessment (GWRA), must study the various ways to enhance groundwater recharge, testing methods to quantify the annual harvest, and aim for wider public awareness.
“Banning a crop is not the solution to groundwater stress,” Secretary (Irrigation & Command Area Development) E. Sridhar said on Monday.
Mr. Sridhar is also the chairman of the State-level committee with 17 others as members, who just chaired the first meeting and released the 2025 GWRA report that “strongly advised discouraging paddy crop for Rabi season to avoid crop loss to farmers,” in view of long dry spells, depleting groundwater wells, and reliance on borewells.
As per the report, 90% of groundwater in the State is extracted for agricultural purposes, 6% for domestic, and 4% for industries. Between 2024 and 2025, the number of over-exploited mandals came down from 31 to 23, but 25 more mandals slipped into semi-critical category, and five more mandals are placed in critical category of extraction. Officials said the difference is also that there was a 16% increase in extraction wells, and overall, with 76% mandals in safe category, policy intervention is needed in 24% or about 148 of total 620 mandals in the State.
