The Maharashtra Department of Water Supply and Sanitation will embark on a minute mapping plan that will cover 25 lakh groundwater resources and water conservation works amid fall in water levels and scarcity, an official said. The mapping will be carried out at a ratio of 1:10000, which means every centimetre on the map will represent 10,000 centimetres on the ground, giving a detailed assessment of such resources, he said. "It will be done under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Maharashtra will be the first state to take up such an initiative," he said.

Emphasizing the importance of the plan, Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA) Commissioner Chintaman Joshi said around 80 per cent of irrigation and 85 per cent of supply for drinking purposes in Maharashtra was based on groundwater resources. "Moreover, micro and small-scale industries and other businesses also pump out groundwater on a large scale. This has resulted in a fall in groundwater levels and has led to water scarcity in many places," he said.