NEW DELHI: Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil has launched the Punah Bharan mobile application to support scientific groundwater recharge planning.
Developed by BISAG-N in collaboration with the National Water Mission (NWM), the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the app will help users identify potential artificial recharge zones within a radius of up to 3 km and explore suitable recharge structures based on local conditions.
The platform provides village-level Artificial Recharge Structure (ARS) zonation maps, GIS tools and thematic layers to support informed planning for sustainable groundwater management. It uses geospatial data on rainfall, groundwater levels, groundwater yield, slope and drainage to identify potential recharge areas and plan suitable interventions.
The launch comes amid concerns over groundwater depletion. In April, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) and various state and Union Territory governments submitted groundwater status data to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The tribunal found widespread over-exploitation of groundwater in several regions and inadequate enforcement of regulatory guidelines. The data showed that Punjab had the highest share of over-exploited units at 75.16%, followed by Haryana at 61.54%, Delhi at 41.18%, Tamil Nadu at 33.87% and Karnataka at 18.99%. Several states had not submitted their reports.
To address the issue, the NGT formed a high-level committee comprising representatives from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Geological Survey of India (GSI), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and IIT Roorkee, with the CGWA as the nodal agency. The committee was directed to submit its report as soon as possible.