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 Rupnagar
93%Critical
Almost every drop that rain puts back is being pumped out. 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 6 points since 2022.
365 million m³pumped out each year (2025)
393 million m³can be taken out safely each year
Noneno yearly shortfall
90%goes to irrigation; the rest to homes and industry
Extraction since 2022
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 98.7% | 387 million m³ | 392 million m³ | Critical | First assessment in this series. |
| 2023 | 98.6% | 383 million m³ | 388 million m³ | Critical | Pumping down 1% (387 → 383 million m³). Safe limit down 1% (392 → 388 million m³). |
| 2024 | 96.1% | 380 million m³ | 395 million m³ | Critical | Pumping down 1% (383 → 380 million m³). Safe limit up 2% (388 → 395 million m³). |
| 2025 | 92.8% | 365 million m³ | 393 million m³ | Critical | Pumping down 4% (380 → 365 million m³). Safe limit down 1% (395 → 393 million m³). Main reason: less water was pumped out, mostly for irrigation (345 → 330 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 Rupnagar
233 of 397 water bodies (59%) 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 Rupnagar…
- Ponds390
- Tanks2
- Check dams and percolation tanks3
- Others2
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.
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.
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.
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 Rupnagar?
In the 2025 Central Ground Water Board assessment, Rupnagar (Punjab) pumped out 93% of the groundwater that can be safely taken out each year, which puts it in the "critical" category. That is 6 points lower than in 2022.
Is groundwater in Rupnagar over-exploited?
Not yet, but it is critical: 93% of the safe yield is already used.
How can groundwater be recharged in Rupnagar?
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 Rupnagar?
The first Census of Water Bodies counted 397 water bodies in Rupnagar, including 390 ponds. 233 of them were not in use.