The Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority (PWRDA) on June 22, 2026, issued the amendment to the Punjab Groundwater Extraction and Conservation Directions, 2023.
The following has been stated:
• The authority has issued the Seventh Amendment to the Punjab Groundwater Extraction and Conservation Directions, 2023, replacing Annexure-1 with the latest groundwater resource assessment based on the Dynamic Ground Water Resources of Punjab notified on February 19, 2026. The amendment updates the categorisation of all 153 assessment blocks according to groundwater extraction levels and introduces revised block-wise Green, Yellow, and Orange status for groundwater management and groundwater charge determination.
• Under the revised assessment, 111 blocks are over-exploited, 10 are critical, 15 are semi-critical, and 17 are safe, with 57 blocks classified as Orange (≥200% extraction), 54 as Yellow (100–199% extraction), and 42 as Green (safe, semi-critical or critical) to guide conservation priorities.
• The amendment comes into force on June 22, 2026.
[Notification no. - 75340:PWRDA0GENL/37/2021-PWRDA BR./4296]
