New Delhi: Delhi has one of the lowest groundwater levels in the country, trailing Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the 10th edition of Handbook of Statistics on Indian States, 2024-25.

The Capital has crossed the ‘over-exploited’ mark in 2024 and 2017, and was close to it in 2023 and 2020. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) categorises an area as ‘over-exploited’ when groundwater extraction exceeds 100 per cent, meaning annual consumption has surpassed recharge.

Groundwater resource assessments are periodically conducted by state ground water departments and the CGWB, guided by state-level committees and supervised by the central level expert group. These joint assessments, which started in 1980, have been conducted ann

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