(Feature Image: Children extracting groundwater from a handpump in Dehradun. B. S. Rawat/SANDRP/May 2024)

This overview complies top ten reports from 2024 to highlight the growing concerns over groundwater depletion and contamination in various Indian cities. Though several cities in India are already being supplied surface water from dams and rivers, groundwater use is increasing to meet significant portion of potable water demand. The unabated unplanned urbanization on one side has been damaging the groundwater recharge functions, sources and on the other putting more pressure on surface and underground water resources. At the same time the cities have been failing to adequately treat wastewater and harvest rainwater. The situation is only deteriorating fast in absence of a National Urban Water Policy.