Written by: Bishal Kalita
Guwahati sits on the banks of one of India’s mightiest rivers. Yet, for most residents, the only reliable source of water lies underground, which is now gradually drying up. The Central Groundwater Board has officially classified major parts of the city as “semi-critical” as extraction rates continue to exceed safe limits across wards [1]. Assam’s total extractable groundwater has declined from 2,800 billion cubic meters in 2013 to 2,000 billion by 2023, indicative of a loss of nearly 800 crore cubic meters in a decade [2]. Guwahati remains one of the hardest-hit areas, with deep borewells frequently running dry in residential zones such as Six Mile, Jyotikuchi, Survey, and Panjabari, among others.
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The city faces not just a crisis of scarcity but something much more profound. Today, piped municipal water barely covers 30% of the city’s households, while a majority still depend on groundwater, often drawn through unmetered and unregulated borewells. The natural topography of Guwahati once allowed rainwater to percolate without barriers, but rapid urban expansion over the past few decades has increasingly replaced natural porous surfaces with concrete, impeding the replenishment of vital aquifers.
New constructions and the steady erosion of the city’s green belt have further reduced its ability to absorb rainwater. Moreover, once-functioning recharge repositories like the Deepor Beel now grapple with encroachment and are subject to heavy industrial effluents, affecting both water levels and quality standards.
Despite these negatives, Guwahati has the potential for practical ways forward, adapted from the experiences of other Indian cities. For instance, Guwahati’s small public spaces can be transformed to serve as effective recharge zones. This involves turning unused parks, tank compounds, and barren forest land into simple soak-pit gardens, maintained by the municipality in collaboration with neighborhood communities.
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This sustainable effort, supported with adequate funding and equipment grants, can remodel the city’s water infrastructure without heavy costs. Delhi has already modeled a similar community-driven practice with neighborhoods like Anand Lok and Sainik Farms, where local residents installed and maintained soak-pits connected to rooftop drains [3]. This effort led to improved water tables over a few monsoons, expanding accountability at the grassroots level.
Restoration drives around Deepor Beel and other wetlands are already in place. However, Guwahati can further leverage inspiration from the revival of Bengaluru’s three-acre Muthurayanakunte Lake. A CSR-led initiative by HandsOnCSR restored the water body through distillation, redirection of stormwater, and embankment reconstruction [4]. The Assam government can promote similar initiatives through the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model, attracting CSR campaigns with special incentives and rebates to restore its wetlands. This can be achieved through collaborative efforts to ring-fence encroachments, establish waste-free perimeters, and ensure that clear, filtered urban runoff enters the wetlands.
Furthermore, merely establishing an ecosystem may not be effective. Timely external monitoring and evaluation are required to introduce a sustainable model, focused on making transformations when and where required.
While encouraging recharge, it’s also equally important to curb waste-pretending-as-recharge. Cities like Noida and Mumbai have tackled this by modernizing their pipelines, metering major users, and isolating stormwater systems from sewage. These measures are aimed at addressing uncontrolled leakage that undermines water security in Indian cities. Guwahati can emphasize a similar push, beginning modestly with pilot installations in public institutions, introducing basic enforcement protocols, and gradually improving district-level supply systems. This move can prevent the unnecessary loss of water supply and reinforce recharge efforts by protecting groundwater from contamination. For all of this to be successful, effective governance is key. Guwahati can introduce ward-level committees under ward councilors to regularize the monitoring of aquifers through water level sounders and piezometers, track progress transparently, and partner with technical agencies for real-time feedback.
The ongoing issue of groundwater depletion in Guwahati is undeniably complex, but the path forward doesn’t need to be. What we need is consistent attention to the very basics—fixing what doesn’t work and preserving what still functions, gradually rebuilding the ecosystem that once sustained the city’s water balance.
As communities across the world begin to reclaim their role in restoration efforts, Guwahati can learn and begin to restore its natural rhythm. In this quiet, deliberate effort lies the promise of a water-secure city, not through complex public interventions alone but through steady, shared responsibility.
References
[4] This dried lake in Bengaluru is now a recharged three-acre freshwater body | Bengaluru News – Times of India
Bishal Kalita is a research assistant at Pahle India Foundation (PIF). He can be reached at: [email protected]