Karnataka Shows Groundwater Gains Under Jal Shakti Abhiyan

As per the 2025 categorisation: • Over-exploited (5 districts): Kolar, Bengaluru (Urban), Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru (Rural), Chitradurga • Critical (2 districts): Bengaluru South (Erstwhile Ramanagara), Tumakuru • Semi-critical (6 districts): Vijayanagara, Bagalkot, Gadag, Belagavi, Chamarajanagara, Davanagere

The Government of India is implementing the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), a mission-mode national campaign designed to strengthen rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. First launched in 2019 across water-stressed blocks of 256 districts, JSA has been an annual nationwide initiative since 2021, spanning rural and urban areas. It focuses on artificial recharge structures, watershed management, reuse systems, afforestation and public awareness.

JSA 2025 is currently under way, with a special focus on 148 water-scarce districts nationwide, including 102 categorised as over-exploited and 22 as critical (based on the 2024 assessment). All five over-exploited and four critical districts of Karnataka have been included as priority districts under JSA 2025.

To further accelerate progress, the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari initiative has been launched by the Prime Minister as a community-driven movement to make rainwater harvesting a mass public effort. By encouraging community ownership, it seeks cost-effective, locally tailored solutions to region-specific water challenges.

Karnataka has reported substantial progress. Through coordinated efforts under JSA and Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari, more than 1.7 million water conservation, harvesting and artificial recharge structures have been created. This has contributed to an overall improvement in Karnataka’s groundwater scenario.

According to CGWB data, the State’s Stage of Groundwater Extraction (SoE) — the ratio of total annual groundwater extraction to total annual extractable groundwater resources — improved from 68.44 per cent in 2024 to 66.49 per cent in 2025. Nearly all Over-exploited, Critical and Semi-critical districts showed improvement in SoE between 2024 and 2025, except Chikkaballapura and Tumakuru.

The information was provided by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Raj Bhushan Choudhary, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.