Parched Delhi's Aquifers Rebound: Satellites Detect Groundwater Recovery

According to a recent study, the land in Dwarka, one of Delhi's most groundwater-stressed zones, has been rising by 5 to 10 centimeters since mid-2016. This uplift, occurring across nearly 4 square kilometers (988 acres), indicates that the underground aquifer is refilling and expanding as water pressure rebuilds. The researchers estimate this gain equals roughly 2-7 billion liters of water every year—enough to refill hundreds of Olympic-sized swimming pools or meet the yearly water needs of an entire Delhi neighborhood.

The turnaround follows Delhi's 2016 groundwater policy, which limited new borewells, made rainwater harvesting mandatory, and required large housing projects to include recharge structures. These measures appear to have stabilized the city's overdrawn aquifers, with groundwater levels across Delhi rising by more than 1.5 meters between 2018 and 2021, even as rainfall dipped during the same period.

However, the situation remains mixed in the surrounding regions. In Gurugram, which has faced some of the worst ground sinking in the area, the pace of subsidence has slowed significantly since 2018. But in Faridabad, the land is still sinking faster, with the subsidence rate doubling from about 2 cm per year before 2017 to nearly 4 to 5 cm per year since then, likely due to continued over-extraction of groundwater.