Switch thirsty crops, water by drip
Where most water goes to fields, moving from paddy and sugarcane to millets, pulses or maize, and from flood to drip or sprinkler irrigation, saves more than any recharge can add.
Groundwater level in Etah
71%Semi-critical
Groundwater is under pressure here. That is the 2025 stage of groundwater extraction: water pumped out in a year as a share of what rain and other sources safely put back. Down 9 points since 2017.
568 million m³pumped out each year (2025)
798 million m³can be taken out safely each year
Noneno yearly shortfall
92%goes to irrigation; the rest to homes and industry
Extraction since 2009
Each point is one CGWB assessment. Over-exploited means more water leaves the ground than comes back, so the water table keeps falling. Hover over or tap a point to see why it moved.
Safe · up to 70%Semi-critical · 70–90%Critical · 90–100%Over-exploited · above 100%
Show the numbers
| Year | Stage | Pumped out | Safe limit | Category | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 84.0% | 605 million m³ | 722 million m³ | Semi-critical | First assessment in this series. |
| 2013 | 83.0% | 524 million m³ | 632 million m³ | Semi-critical | Pumping down 13% (605 → 524 million m³). Safe limit down 13% (722 → 632 million m³). |
| 2017 | 80.5% | – | – | Semi-critical | CGWB changed its method in 2017 (GEC-97 to GEC-2015), so part of this change comes from the new method. |
| 2020 | 79.7% | 456 million m³ | 572 million m³ | Semi-critical | Little change since 2017 (-0.8 points). |
| 2022 | 74.0% | 550 million m³ | 744 million m³ | Semi-critical | Pumping up 21% (456 → 550 million m³). Safe limit up 30% (572 → 744 million m³). Main reason: more water soaked back into the ground, from better rain, canals or recharge structures. A swing this large usually comes partly from revised estimates (a new well count or changed district boundaries), not only from changes on the ground. |
| 2023 | 72.9% | 551 million m³ | 755 million m³ | Semi-critical | Pumping up 0% (550 → 551 million m³). Safe limit up 2% (744 → 755 million m³). |
| 2024 | 72.6% | 570 million m³ | 784 million m³ | Semi-critical | Pumping up 3% (551 → 570 million m³). Safe limit up 4% (755 → 784 million m³). |
| 2025 | 71.2% | 568 million m³ | 798 million m³ | Semi-critical | Pumping down 0% (570 → 568 million m³). Safe limit up 2% (784 → 798 million m³). |
Million m³: 1 million m³ = 100 crore litres. 2009 and 2013 used the older GEC-97 method.
Loading 20 years of rainfall…
Ponds and lakes in Etah
481 of 1,877 water bodies (26%) are not in use: dried up, silted, built over or polluted. Bringing them back is one of the cheapest ways to recharge groundwater.
Loading the map of water bodies in Etah…
- Ponds1,861
- Tanks14
- Check dams and percolation tanks2
Source: 1st Census of Water Bodies, Ministry of Jal Shakti (counted in 2018-19, published 2023).
What will fix it here
Most of the water here goes to farming, so using less on fields matters as much as recharge.
Revive village ponds and johads
Desilting old ponds and opening their feeder channels restores natural recharge. A one-hectare pond that soaks in a metre of water over the monsoon puts back about a crore litres.
Rooftop rainwater recharge
Pipe roof water through a silt trap and filter into a recharge pit or an old borewell. Every 100 m² of roof puts back tens of thousands of litres a year, right where the pumping happens.
Recharge pits and shafts in open land
Parks, campuses, warehouse yards and road sides can take recharge shafts that reach past the clay layer, so runoff that floods streets goes down to the aquifer instead.
Check dams and contour trenches
On sloping or rocky land, small dams on seasonal streams and trenches along contours slow water down long enough for it to sink in.
Treat and reuse wastewater
Treated water from a sewage treatment plant can run flushing, gardens, cooling towers and construction, which today often draw on borewells.
Frequently asked questions
What is the groundwater level in Etah?
In the 2025 Central Ground Water Board assessment, Etah (Uttar Pradesh) pumped out 71% of the groundwater that can be safely taken out each year, which puts it in the "semi-critical" category. That is 9 points lower than in 2017.
Is groundwater in Etah over-exploited?
No. At 71% of the safe yield, Etah is semi-critical, though recharge is still needed as demand grows.
How can groundwater be recharged in Etah?
Rooftop rainwater harvesting into recharge pits or old borewells, recharge shafts in open land, reviving ponds, check dams, treating and reusing wastewater, and moving farms to drip irrigation and less thirsty crops.
How many ponds and lakes are there in Etah?
The first Census of Water Bodies counted 1,877 water bodies in Etah, including 1,861 ponds. 481 of them were not in use.
Other districts in Uttar Pradesh
Ghaziabad124%Agra111%Gautam Buddh Nagar105%Shamli101%Firozabad99%Saharanpur97%Bagpat96%Hapur94%Bulandshahar93%Amroha93%Hathras91%Varanasi89%Mahoba89%Sambhal87%Moradabad86%Lalitpur83%Chitrakoot81%Kaushambi81%Aligarh80%Muzaffarnagar80%Budaun79%Kannauj79%Meerut79%Kanpur Nagar79%Pratapgarh76%Sant Ravidas Nagar75%Farrukhabad74%Prayagraj73%Mainpuri73%Fatehpur72%Bareilly72%Kanpur Dehat71%Mathura71%Rampur71%Jaunpur70%Bijnor69%Kasganj69%Lucknow68%Banda67%Jhansi66%Hamirpur66%Amethi66%Basti65%Maunath Bhanjan65%Mahrajganj64%Siddharth Nagar64%Ambedkar Nagar63%Mirzapur63%Deoria63%Auraiya63%Gorakhpur63%Pilibhit62%Sultanpur62%Barabanki62%Shahjahanpur62%Ballia62%Ayodhya62%Hardoi62%Unnao61%Ghazipur61%Gonda61%Lakhimpur Kheri61%Sant Kabir Nagar61%Chandauli60%Raibareli59%Azamgarh59%Shrawasti58%Bahraich58%Sitapur58%Jalaun57%Balrampur55%Etawah53%Kushi Nagar51%Sonbhadra49%