Report finds groundwater overuse in five districts in Karnataka

New Delhi: Five districts in Karnataka have witnessed overexploitation of groundwater, the Central Groundwater Board has said in its latest report.

The annual groundwater quality report-2025 report said large-scale extraction has taken place in the districts of Kolar, Bengaluru Urban, Chikkaballapur, Bengaluru Rural and Chitradurga.

It said groundwater situation is critical in Bengaluru South (Ramanagar) and Tumakuru districts. The report mentions groundwater over-exploitation in Vijayanagar, Bagalkot, Gadag, Belagavi, Chamarajanagar and Davangere districts.

Under Jal Shakti Abhiyan, 17 lakh water conservation structures have been constructed in the state for groundwater recharge. As a result, there has been slight increase in groundwater levels, the report said. 

The overall groundwater extraction rate in Karnataka was 68.44% in 2024, which came down to 66.49% in 2025, it said.

The report - prepared after analysing 14,978 groundwater samples collected in 2024 across the country — said about 71.7% of samples comply with BIS standards of permissible limits for drinking water, whereas the remaining 28.3% samples exceed the limit for one or more parameters, indicating localised quality concerns. 

The report indicates that 13-15% of the total collected water samples have uranium contamination in India. 

“Overall, most samples meet the prescribed standards, though some areas reflect the need for focused monitoring and quality improvement measures,” it said.

Factors contributing to groundwater quality decline in the country include excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides, improper waste disposal and sewage leakage in urban areas, discharge of untreated industrial waste and over-extraction.