City faces extreme groundwater depletion with abysmal levels recorded in Bachupally and Ameerpet

A large number of other areas in the city too are facing acute groundwater crisis four months ahead of summer, portending a bleak situation. The Groundwater Drought index (GWDI) classifies the mandals based on the groundwater levels, into Normal, Mild Drought, Moderate Drought, Severe Drought and Extreme Drought.

GWDI is calculated by dividing the difference between historical mean depth to groundwater table below surface and the given month’s depth to ground water table, with the historical maximum depth to groundwater table for the same month.

The historical figures are calculated based on the data from previous 10 years. A GWDI greater than -0.15 is considered normal, -0.16 to -0.3 mild drought, -0.31 to -0.45 moderate drought, -0.46 to -0.6 severe drought, and less than -0.6 extreme drought.

Ameerpet also recorded the highest depth of groundwater in the State in the month of September, 2026, at 32.07 metres below ground level (m bgl). It is more than double the maximum depth in September at 13.36 metres, recorded in previous 10 years.

In Bachupally, it is relatively worse, as the depth in September, 2026 at 30 m bgl is more than three times higher than the maximum depth recorded for the same month over the past 10 years, at 9.06 m bgl. The State’s average depth to groundwater level during September, 2026 was 7.52 m bgl, indicating a fall of 3.11 metres compared with September 2025 (4.41m), the report of Ground Water department said.

The department is obtaining data on a monthly basis through a network of 1,771 monitoring stations (piezometers) across 621 mandals in 33 districts of the State, covering different hydro-geological and geo-morphological units and commonly developed aquifers.