WMO State of Global Water Resources 2024 Report: India Faces Dual Water Shocks of Floods and Worsening Groundwater Stress
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation | SDG 13: Climate Action
Institution: Ministry of Jal Shakti | Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change | Ministry of Earth Sciences | NITI Ayog
The State of Global Water Resources 2024 report by World Meteorological Organization (WMO), released in September 2025, highlights alarming global water cycle disruptions: only one-third of the worldβs river basins recorded normal flows in 2024, while the rest showed either deficits or excesses. For India, the report documents a stark dual reality.
Groundwater depletion continues across major food-producing regions, especially in South Asia, the Middle East, and parts of North America. Some areas recorded short-term rises due to heavy rainfall, but overall trends point to long-term depletion. Mountain regions saw continued glacier mass loss, especially in the Himalayas, Andes, and Alps. This has long-term implications for river flows and water availability downstream. Large portions of Africa, Central America, and South Asia reported below-normal soil moisture, threatening agriculture and food security.
India: In July 2024, extreme rainfall in Kerala triggered devastating floods and landslides that caused 385 deaths, marking one of the deadliest flood disasters worldwide. At the same time, hydrological monitoring showed that the Ganges and Godavari basins experienced above- to much-above-normal river discharge, reflecting unusually wet conditions. This surge contributed to groundwater recharge in western and north-eastern India. However, north-western India continued to experience severe groundwater depletion, driven largely by over-extraction and unsustainable pumping despite the absence of major droughts. Importantly, these groundwater findings come from Indiaβs own Water Resources Information System (WRIS), underscoring that the stress signals are based on official domestic monitoring data rather than external estimates.
Indiaβs experience in 2024 underscores how climate variability and human pressures are compounding one another - floods and landslides claiming lives in the south, while chronic groundwater stress threatens long-term water security in the north-west. This calls for urgent integration of flood management, groundwater governance, and basin-level planning into a unified water resilience strategy.
Follow the full report here: WMO State of Global Water Resources 2024 (PDF)