Vol. 10, Special Issue 10 (2021)

Recent interpretations of satellite gravity data indicate that current abstraction is unsustainable, yet these large-scale interpretations lack the spatio-temporal resolution required to govern groundwater effectively. Here new evidence from high-resolution in situ records of groundwater levels, abstraction and groundwater quality, which reveal that sustainable groundwater supplies are constrained more by extensive contamination than depletion. The volume of groundwater to 200 m depth to be >20 times the combined annual flow of the Indus, Brahmaputra and Ganges, and show the water table has been stable or rising across 70% of the aquifer between 2000 and 2012. Groundwater levels are falling in the remaining 30%, amounting to a net annual depletion of 8.0 ± 3.0 km³. Within 60% of the aquifer, access to potable groundwater is restricted by excessive salinity or arsenic. Recent groundwater depletion in northern India has occurred within a longer history of groundwater accumulation from extensive canal leakage. Capitalizing on recent progress in evaporation measurement techniques, we can now close the water balance and directly quantify the exchange flux at the field scale, thus gain a better understanding of regional groundwater dynamics. The comprehensive observations of water balance components in an irrigated cropland were implemented. The water balance analysis showed that the exchange flux and groundwater dynamics were significantly altered by the application of water-saving irrigation. Groundwater recharge sustains groundwater discharge, including natural discharge through springs and the base flow to surface water as well as anthropogenic discharge through pumping wells. Spatial variations in groundwater recharge rates (basin-wide mean: 17 to 960 mm yr⁻¹) were estimated in the major river basins across India. The extensive plains of the Indus–Ganges–Brahmaputra (IGB) river basins are subjected to prevalence of comparatively higher recharge. This is mainly attributed to occurrence of coarse sediments, higher rainfall, and intensive irrigation-linked groundwater-abstraction inducing recharge by increasing available groundwater storage and return flows. However, precipitation rates do not significantly influence groundwater recharge in most of the river basins across India, indicating human influence in prevailing recharge rates. The spatial variability in recharge rates could provide critical input for policymakers to develop more sustainable groundwater management in India.