Hyderabad extracts 70% of annual groundwater; 15 of 16 units critical

Hyderabad’s metropolitan region has extracted nearly 70 per cent of its annual groundwater resources, while 15 of the 16 groundwater assessment units in Hyderabad district are classified as critical or over-exploited, according to the latest India-Groundwater Resource Estimation System assessment for 2025–26.

The assessment, based on data compiled through the Central Ground Water Board’s groundwater estimation platform, covers the Core Urban Region comprising Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts.

The region has extracted around 48,000 hectare-metres of groundwater against an annual groundwater resource estimated at 72,000 hectare-metres.

Within Hyderabad district, groundwater extraction has already reached or exceeded the annual extractable resource, prompting continued dependence on over-extraction to meet residential, commercial and industrial demand.

The latest assessment classifies 15 of the district’s 16 groundwater assessment units as either critical or over-exploited. Eight units, including Amberpet, Ameerpet, Asifnagar, Charminar, Golconda, Himayatnagar, Khairatabad and Saidabad, are classified as over-exploited. Seven others fall into the critical category.

The number of assessment units facing these levels of stress has increased from 11 in the 2024–25 assessment to 15 in the latest report.

Groundwater extraction is classified as critical when it reaches 90 to 100 per cent of the annual extractable resource. Extraction exceeding 100 per cent is classified as over-exploited, indicating that water is being withdrawn faster than the available annual resource can be replenished, reported The Times of India.

Officials and water-management experts have pointed to heavy dependence on borewells among households, commercial establishments and industries as a contributing factor.

Inadequate municipal water coverage has also encouraged residents and businesses to turn to groundwater sources. Rapid urbanisation has reduced the land available for natural recharge in some areas, increasing pressure on aquifers.

The metropolitan region accounts for nearly one-third of Telangana’s population within an area of about 2,000 square kilometres but has access to only around 3 per cent of the state’s annual groundwater resources, according to the report.

The findings underline the need to improve municipal water access, regulate groundwater extraction and expand recharge measures.

Groundwater conservation, rainwater harvesting and protection of open and permeable land will be important to reducing pressure on the region’s aquifers.

The assessment highlights the scale of the challenge, but it does not mean that every part of metropolitan Hyderabad has exhausted its groundwater resources to the same extent.