Hyderabad, Oct. 19 -- Hyderabad and its surrounding urban districts are facing growing groundwater stress as nearly 70 per cent of their annual groundwater resources have already been extracted.

According to the 2025-26 India-Groundwater Resource Estimation System (IN-GRES) assessment, the Core Urban Region (CURE), which includes Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts, has extracted around 48,000 hectare-metres (ham) of groundwater from an annual available resource of 72,000 ham.

In Hyderabad district, groundwater extraction has already exceeded the annual available resource. Of the district's 16 groundwater assessment units, 15 are classified as critical or over-exploited.

Eight Hyderabad areas over-exploit groundwater...