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Groundwater largely stable despite 19% monsoon rainfall deficit
Even as India faces a 19% cumulative rainfall deficit in the southwest monsoon so far this season, the country’s groundwater reserves remain largely stable, according to the agriculture ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) report
Even as India faces a 19% cumulative rainfall deficit in the southwest monsoon so far this season, the country’s groundwater reserves remain largely stable, according to the agriculture ministry’s latest Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) report. Nearly 88% of groundwater monitoring wells across the country continue to record normal water levels, suggesting farmers in irrigated regions are unlikely to face immediate water stress despite uneven rainfall, according to experts.
As per the report, 7,977 of the 9,085 groundwater monitoring wells assessed nationwide fall under the normal category, while only 12.2% exhibit varying degrees of groundwater drought. Around 69% of monitored wells have groundwater levels within 10 metres below ground level, while only about 4% have water levels deeper than 40 metres, indicating adequate groundwater availability across most regions. The ministry also noted that the pre-monsoon 2026 Groundwater Drought Index showed groundwater stress restricted to limited pockets in a few states.
Explaining why groundwater reserves matter, a senior agriculture ministry official said the healthy groundwater position provides an important safeguard for the current cropping season despite the rainfall shortfall. “The better or normal groundwater situation before the kharif season infers that wherever tube well-based irrigation is available, that can provide normal irrigation water for crops in case of probable gaps between rains,” the official said.
Calling the findings encouraging, DK Singh, retired water technology scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), said the immediate impact of the rainfall deficit would largely be confined to regions where groundwater levels are already below normal. “For the effect to reflect this year itself, groundwater needs to be less than normal. So some impact may be seen in the areas which remain below normal,” Singh said.
Singh also cautioned that the real impact of this year’s weak monsoon on groundwater would become evident only after several months because aquifers respond to rainfall with a lag. “The spatial distribution of rainfall will be crucial. Another factor to keep in mind is that the effect of rainfall on groundwater comes with a lag. If rainfall is poor now, the decline in groundwater levels will become visible only after five to six months. A rainfall deficit this year will therefore become a problem next year because groundwater tables will not recharge adequately,” he said.
The reassuring national picture also masks chronic groundwater stress in several major agricultural states. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan continue to extract groundwater far in excess of annual recharge. In 2025, Punjab’s stage of groundwater extraction stood at 156.36%, followed by Rajasthan at 147.11% and Haryana at 136.75%, among the highest in the country, underscoring the long-term sustainability challenge despite the current stability.
The assessment comes even as rainfall between June 1 and July 22 remained 19% below the long-period average, with the steepest deficits recorded in east and northeast India (-32%), followed by southern peninsula (-26%), northwest India (-13%), and central India (-9%). As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) active monsoon conditions are expected over northwest, east and northeast India during the ongoing week, while rainfall activity is likely to remain subdued over west-central and peninsular India.
The CWWG report also flagged below-average soil moisture across parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Marathwada, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, eastern West Bengal and pockets of the Northeast, reflecting the uneven distribution of monsoon rainfall.
