BENGALURU: Karnataka’s groundwater resources are facing mounting pressure, with the stage of groundwater extraction likely to cross 70% this year amid severe drought, experts warn. Experts point out that up to 70% falls under safe category. Poor rainfall, inadequate recharge and excessive extraction are raising concerns over groundwater depletion.
The state has already declared 227 taluks as drought-hit. As per the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre, gross capacity of all 14 reservoirs is 895 tmcft, of which at present, only 540tmcft is available as against 827tmcft last year.
The 2025 annual ground water resources report that was released in January had estimated annual extractable groundwater resources was 17.41 billion cubic metres, against a total extraction of 11.58 BCM. The groundwater extraction stood at 66.49%. But this year, drought will make it worse.
The groundwater level is classified into four categories--safe, semi- critical, critical, and over exploited. As per the 2025 report, 145 taluks are falling under safe category, 36 in semi-critical (70% to 90%), 11 in critical (90% to 100%), 45 in over-exploited category (above 100%). This year, number of semi-critical, critical, and over exploited taluks will increase drastically, say experts.
“Up to 70% is termed as safe. We are anticipating that the state average will cross 70 per cent. The North East monsoon is only 16 per cent of the total annual contribution to the state. Even NE monsoon this year is not favourable. We are staring at 50% deficit as far as the October rain,” said GS Srinivasa Reddy, a prominent environmental scientist.
According to Reddy, because of over exploitation, in summer, lakhs of borewells become defunctional.
State Disaster Management Authority sources said ground water extraction is done for various uses. “In 2024, the state witnessed good rains. In the ground water quality tagging, 17 taluks have been tagged for salinity, 41 for nitrate, 15 taluks for fluoride and 13 taluks for uranium. With increased extraction of ground water this year, these numbers will go up. This will make impact on human health, including kidney, liver, bone and other issues,” an official said.
Water conservation expert Vishwanath Srikantaiah said, “When we get good rains, store it and during drought, it will be spent. What per cent of storage we are using is also important. We need to use water more cautiously till next June. We need to encourage farmers to take up drip and sprinkler practice. We cannot just blame farmers for this,” he said.
