Gurgaon: Six of the city’s seven monitored urban sites have gone deeper for water in a year, exposing a worrying decline beneath a city where the overall groundwater average had appeared to be improving.The findings, submitted by Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to Punjab and Haryana High Court, compared pre-monsoon groundwater levels in 2025 and 2026. The declines ranged from 0.08 metres to 2.34 metres. Only one well, at Cell Office, recorded a rise — of 1.34 metres“This simply means that underground water at six monitoring points was farther from the surface this year than last year. This will have crucial implications because groundwater is a key source for homes, construction and other uses in a rapidly urbanising city,” an official said.For residents, the concern is about increasing pressure on an already stressed underground reserve.The data also showed how uneven the problem is. In the seven urban sites, groundwater during the two pre-monsoon observations was found between 2.5 metres and 50.3 metres below ground level (mbgl). Four locations had water more than 20 metres below the surface, while Kherki Daula recorded the deepest level at 50.3 metres in 2026.The picture is different from the district-wide average, which had appeared to improve for three consecutive years — from 37.7 metres below ground level in 2022 to 37.3 metres in 2023, 33.7 metres in 2024 and 30.6 metres in 2025.The latest CGWA assessment also showed why an average can conceal what is happening at individual locations.Across the wider district, some sites rose while others fell. Groundwater levels ranged from about 1.3 metres to 49.6 metres below the ground in pre-monsoon 2025, and from about 1 metre to 50.3 metres in 2026. Khawaspur recorded the biggest rise, at 4.23 metres, while Karola saw the biggest fall, at 5.41 metres.CGWA said the figures demonstrated “considerable spatial variation” in groundwater levels across the city. It said locations showing relatively higher annual declines needed continued monitoring, along with groundwater conservation and regulatory measures. The authority also stressed continued oversight of extraction, monitoring and recharge.The report was filed in Sept in compliance with the high court’s Aug 19 order seeking verification of the city’s current groundwater position. It used pre-monsoon observations from monitoring sites and piezometers maintained by the Haryana Ground Water Cell and Central Ground Water Board.Fawzia Tarannum, director at Earthwise Nexa, said the city’s groundwater stress reflected “uneven geology and rapid urbanisation”. She said recharge areas were increasingly being sealed while extraction exceeded natural replenishment, and called for regulation of large and illegal borewells, greater use of treated wastewater, functional rainwater harvesting and scientific recharge.She also called for protection of the Aravallis, Najafgarh and Basai as natural recharge systems, revival of ponds and johads, treatment of Badshapur drain flows and real-time public groundwater monitoring.
