Groundwater Depletion in Punjab: Causes, Impacts and Sustainable Management

Subject: GS 03: Agriculture

Context: The Punjab’s groundwater extraction has reached a critical level, reflecting the long-term impact of water-intensive agriculture, subsidised electricity, assured procurement and dependence on groundwater irrigation. The crisis also has implications for agricultural sustainability and equitable access to irrigation.

• Punjab recorded a groundwater extraction rate of around 152% in the latest assessment, indicating that annual extraction substantially exceeds the annual extractable groundwater resource.
• Groundwater Stress: Of Punjab’s 153 assessment blocks, around 72% are in the red zone; declining water tables require deeper tubewells and higher pumping costs, disproportionately affecting small and marginal farmers who may depend on purchased irrigation water. 

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Groundwater Status in India

• Groundwater Assessment: According to the Dynamic Ground Water Resources Assessment, 2025, India’s annual groundwater recharge is 448.52 billion cubic metres (BCM), while the annual extractable groundwater resource is 407.75 BCM.
• Over-Exploited Units: Out of 6,762 groundwater assessment units, 730 units (10.8%) are classified as over-exploited, where groundwater extraction exceeds the annual extractable groundwater resource.
• Irrigation Dependence: Around 87% of India’s groundwater extraction is used for irrigation, followed by domestic and industrial uses.
• High Extraction States: States and Union Territories with groundwater extraction above the national average include Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

Major Drivers of Groundwater Depletion

• Water-Intensive Cropping: Punjab’s intensive paddy-wheat cropping system generates high and sustained irrigation demand, particularly because paddy requires substantial water.
• Assured Procurement: Minimum Support Price (MSP), government procurement and established marketing infrastructure have made the rice-wheat system economically attractive compared with several alternative crops.
• Electricity Subsidies: Subsidised agricultural electricity lowers the immediate cost of groundwater pumping and can encourage higher extraction where electricity consumption is not effectively linked to groundwater availability.
• Tubewell-Based Irrigation: Widespread access to tubewells has enabled farmers to maintain intensive irrigation and reduced dependence on rainfall and variable surface-water availability.
• Limited Crop Diversification: Farmers face uncertainties regarding prices, procurement, storage, processing infrastructure and supply chains when shifting towards less water-intensive crops.
• Climate Variability: Rising temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns can increase irrigation requirements, adding pressure to already stressed groundwater systems.

Impacts of Groundwater Depletion

• Agricultural Sustainability: A 2026 study found persistent groundwater depletion across most Punjab districts, with rice intensification and high groundwater withdrawal emerging as major drivers of stress.
• Rising Irrigation Costs: In Sangrur, a 2025 study recorded average borewell depths of about 355 feet and motor capacities of 19.22 hp, illustrating the increasing infrastructure and energy requirements of groundwater irrigation.
• Agrarian Inequality: Recent research from Sangrur and Barnala indicates that larger farms have greater capacity to access declining groundwater resources, while groundwater depletion increases the financial burden on smaller farmers.
• Food Security: Punjab’s groundwater crisis threatens the sustainability of its rice-wheat production system, which remains important to India’s foodgrain procurement and food-security architecture. A recent study estimates that rice procurement policies may account for at least 50% of groundwater-table decline in Punjab over 34 years.
• Groundwater Quality: A 2026 study found declining irrigation suitability of groundwater in Punjab, with SAR-unsuitable sites increasing from 13 to 20 and sodium-percentage unsuitable sites from 12 to 47; rising nitrate concentrations were also associated with intensive fertiliser use and pumping.
• Regional Ecological Stress: The southwestern districts, including Muktsar, Bathinda, Firozpur, Mansa and Moga, have experienced particularly severe groundwater degradation alongside expansion of rice cultivation.

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Government Measures for Groundwater Management

• Dynamic Groundwater Assessment: The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), along with State Governments, undertakes periodic assessment of groundwater recharge, extractable resources and extraction.
• Atal Bhujal Yojana: The scheme promotes community-led participatory groundwater management through groundwater monitoring, Water Security Plans, water-use efficiency and recharge interventions.
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY): It promotes irrigation expansion and water-use efficiency, including micro-irrigation through measures such as drip and sprinkler systems.
• Mission Amrit Sarovar: The initiative focuses on creating and rejuvenating water bodies, improving local water availability and supporting water conservation and groundwater recharge.
• Pani Bachao, Paisa Kamao: Punjab’s scheme provides financial incentives for saving electricity used for groundwater pumping, attempting to convert the electricity subsidy into an incentive for conservation.
• Crop Diversification: Policy interventions seek to encourage movement towards less water-intensive crops by improving alternative markets, procurement and value chains.

Key Challenges in Groundwater Management

• Policy Incentive Mismatch: Procurement and electricity policies can continue to encourage water-intensive cropping and groundwater extraction even in severely stressed regions.
• Groundwater Regulation: Groundwater regulation is difficult because extraction occurs through a large number of privately owned wells and tubewells.
• Market Constraints: Alternative crops often lack the combination of assured procurement, processing facilities, storage and stable prices available to rice and wheat.
• Smallholder Vulnerability: Restricting groundwater extraction without protecting farmer incomes can disproportionately affect small and marginal cultivators.
• Aquifer Complexity: Groundwater systems are hydrogeologically complex and often do not correspond neatly with administrative boundaries.
• Monitoring Gaps: Effective groundwater governance requires reliable and localised information on groundwater levels, recharge, extraction and aquifer characteristics.

Way Forward

• Water-Sensitive Agricultural Policy: Agricultural incentives should increasingly favour less water-intensive crops in groundwater-stressed regions.
• Income-Secure Diversification: Crop diversification should be supported through assured markets, procurement, storage, processing infrastructure and value chains.
• Farmer-Centric Incentives: Conservation incentives should benefit the actual cultivator, including eligible tenant farmers, rather than being linked only to ownership of land or irrigation infrastructure.
• Collective Irrigation Infrastructure: Farmer Producer Organisations, cooperatives and community-based irrigation systems can reduce the individual capital burden of accessing irrigation.
• Efficient Irrigation: Wider adoption of drip irrigation, sprinklers, precision agriculture and improved irrigation scheduling can improve water-use efficiency.
• Aquifer-Level Governance: Groundwater management should be based on aquifer characteristics, groundwater budgets and participatory Water Security Plans.
• Managed Recharge: Managed Aquifer Recharge and restoration of local water bodies should be promoted in areas where hydrogeological conditions are suitable.

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Conclusion

Punjab demonstrates that groundwater depletion is not merely a water-resource problem, but the outcome of interconnected agricultural, energy, market and livelihood incentives. Sustainable groundwater management therefore requires combining conservation, recharge, crop diversification, efficient irrigation and farmer-income protection.

News Source: The Hindu

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