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Haryana’s water crisis deepens: Groundwater plummets to 52 m in worst-hit Mahendragarh district
The number of over-exploited blocks where the stage of groundwater development is more than 100% rose from 85 in 2020 to 91 in 2025, the Haryana Assembly was informed.
Minister Shruti Choudhry informs the House that the Haryana government lacks specific data on tubewells rendered non-functional by the falling water table since 2020. (File Photo)
The average groundwater level across Haryana has continued to deteriorate over the past five years, dropping from 21.17 metres in June 2020 to 23.02 metres in June 2025, the Vidhan Sabha was informed on Friday during the ongoing Budget Session.
The worst-affected districts with the lowest groundwater levels are Mahendragarh (52.02 metres), followed by Kurukshetra (41.05 metres), Bhiwani (34.97 metres), Fatehabad (33.85 metres), Kaithal (32.95 metres), Rewari (31.59 metres) and Gurgaon (30.05 metres).
The three districts that have the highest groundwater levels are Rohtak (3.70 metres), Jhajjar (4.20 metres) and Hisar (7.02 metres).
Congress MLA from Kaithal, Aditya Surjewala, had sought details from the state government on: the district-wise, month-wise and year-wise groundwater level readings recorded by the government since January 2020; the district-wise and year-wise number of tubewells and borewells that have become non-functional due to a decline in the water table in the state since 2020; and the area classified under dark zone, critical zone and semi-critical zone in the state since 2020, together with district-wise and year-wise details.
Replying to Surjewala’s unstarred question, Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Shruti Choudhry mentioned that the state government has no specific data on “the district-wise and year-wise number of tubewells and borewells that have become non-functional due to a decline in the water table in state since year 2020”.
In response to a query on “dark zones” and “critical zones,” the minister explained that before 2004, the term ‘Dark Zone’ was used to classify a block where the stage of groundwater development (SOD) exceeded 85 per cent. The SOD refers to the ratio of annual groundwater draft to annual groundwater availability.
“Now the terms over-exploited, critical, semi-critical and safe are used for the blocks where the stage of groundwater development is more than 100%, 90-100%, 70-90% and 70% respectively since 2004,” she added, saying that from 2022 onwards, a Ground Water resource estimation (GWRE) is carried out every year by the Ground Water Cell, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Haryana, in coordination with the Central Ground Water Board, Chandigarh.
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Giving further details, the minister said that according to the GWRE report, the number of over-exploited blocks rose from 85 in 2020 to 91 in 2025, with figures holding steady at 88 between 2022 and 2024. In critical blocks, the number declined from 12 in 2020 to 6 in 2025. Similarly, the count of semi-critical blocks showed a marginal increase from 14 in 2020 to 15 in 2025, while those in the safe category rose from 30 to 31 in 2025.
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