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Groundwater Depth Check for Any Plot in India

How deep the water table sits, how far it recovers each monsoon, and whether it is falling — from Central Ground Water Board observation wells.

What this tool tells you

Four readings, in the order they matter when you are buying land.

Depth to water

How far below ground the water table sits, in metres. Smaller is better — shallow water is cheaper to reach and cheaper to lift.

Specific yield

How much water the aquifer actually gives up. A shallow table in low-yield rock still makes a poor borewell.

Monsoon recovery

How far the table rises between the pre-monsoon low and the post-monsoon high. Small recovery means the aquifer is drawn down faster than it refills.

Long-term trend

Whether the table has risen or fallen across decades of readings. This is the one that decides whether a working borewell keeps working.

Depth is not drilling depth

The single most common misreading of this figure.

1

The water table is where saturation begins

It is the level water rises to in an open well — not the level a borewell should stop at.

2

A borewell must clear the seasonal low

Stopping at the post-monsoon level leaves the well dry by May. The pre-monsoon figure is the one to design against.

3

Hard rock needs fractures, not depth

In gneiss and granite, water moves through fractures. A 150 m borewell that misses them yields less than a 60 m one that hits them.

Methodology and data sources

Observation wells, not a model

Readings come from Central Ground Water Board and State Ground Water Department observation wells, published through the National Water Data Portal (Ministry of Jal Shakti). The figure at your plot is recency-weighted inverse-distance interpolation from the nearest of them — it is not a measurement at your location.

Every source is named

The report lists each well it used with its distance, its own reading and the date of that reading, plus how far apart the nearby wells are — so you can judge the estimate rather than take it on trust. Specific yield is a separate published dataset and its nearest sample can be much further away; the report states that distance too.

Frequently Asked Questions

How deep will I need to drill a borewell?
Depth to water is not drilling depth. The water table tells you where saturated ground begins; a borewell must go deeper to stay below the seasonal low and, in hard-rock aquifers, to intersect water-bearing fractures. In the Deccan gneiss underlying much of Telangana and Karnataka, borewells are typically 60–200 m regardless of a shallow water table, because yield depends on hitting fractures rather than on depth alone. Treat this as a planning input and confirm with a local driller before you buy.
What is specific yield, and why does it matter more than depth?
Specific yield is the fraction of the aquifer that actually drains to a well — roughly 0.02 for fractured hard rock and up to 0.25 for sandy alluvium. A shallow water table in a low-yield aquifer can still give a poor borewell, because the rock holds the water but will not release it. Depth tells you how far down water is; specific yield tells you how much you can take out.
Why does the depth change through the year?
The water table falls through the dry season as it is pumped and evaporates, then recovers during the monsoon. The pre-monsoon figure is the worst case a borewell has to reach in a dry year, and the gap between pre- and post-monsoon is how much the aquifer recharges. A site with a small recovery is being drawn down faster than it refills.
What does a declining long-term trend mean?
It means the water table is getting deeper year on year, typically where extraction outpaces recharge. Depth is measured downward, so a declining trend carries a positive rate in metres per year, and on the report's chart the line drops away from the ground surface. A fall of even 0.25 m a year compounds to several metres over a decade, which can put an existing borewell out of water.
Where does this data come from?
Observation wells monitored by the Central Ground Water Board and State Ground Water Departments, published through the National Water Data Portal. The figure at your plot is recency-weighted inverse-distance interpolation from the nearest wells — it is not a measurement at your location, and the report names every well it used, with its distance and its own reading, so you can judge the estimate.

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