Assessment of Groundwater Sustainability and Identifying Factors Inducing Groundwater Depletion in India

The alarming decline in groundwater (GW) storage threatens the sustainable development of the water‐energy‐food linkages of a country. India has experienced severe dry spells during the years 2002, 2004, 2009, and 2012. However, the relative contribution of factors affecting GW depletion (such as variability in precipitation rate and groundwater extraction) still remains unknown. Here, we first evaluate the current GW condition by implementing reliability, resilience, and vulnerability analysis on the 5,988 monitoring well observations spanning over a period of two decades. Our study further improves the existing studies by isolating the quantity of GW depletion due to precipitation and nonprecipitation (GW extraction) factors using a multivariate regression model. Our study indicates that the nonprecipitation factor is most responsible for GW depletion in North India at a rate of 3.5 cm per year. Plain Language Summary In many parts of India, groundwater (GW) is used as the main source of freshwater for agricultural production. Continuous extraction of GW over the years has led to a reduction in GW storage. This affects agricultural productivity and increases the energy consumption to pump out GW from deeper wells. GW is composed of excess precipitation that percolates through the topsoil and accumulates over the hard rock material that soaks with water. Therefore, low precipitation reduces the replenishment of extracted GW and increases the rate of GW depletion. During the past decade, India has experienced severe low rainfall seasons during the years 2002, 2004, 2009, and 2012. We implement a methodology to monitor the change in GW, caused due to precipitation and nonclimatic factors over India using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite and 5,988 monitoring well observations. Our analysis reveals that the continuous extraction of GW and reduced GW refill during low rainfall seasons before 2009 has considerably affected GW over India. Our study further provides insight into the sustainability of GW resources of India, which will help to develop sustainable GW management schemes in India. Key Points Groundwater (GW) storage depletion in India has major contributions from nonprecipitation factors The analysis of GW based on performance indices indicates low GW storage sustainability over the majority of Indian states Growing water demand has increased GW stress on the eastern coast of the Indian peninsula