First Census Of Water Bodies

April 22, 2023

The Ministry of Jal Shakti recently released the report of its first-ever census of water bodies, revealing crucial insights into the country’s water resources.
Objective– to develop a national database for all water bodies by collecting information on subject including their size, condition, status of encroachments, use, storage capacity, status of filling up of storage etc.
Census was launched in convergence with 6th Minor Irrigation Census under Centrally Sponsored Scheme “Irrigation Census”.
Water bodies include all natural or man-made units bounded on all sides with some or no masonry work used for storing water for irrigation or other purposes.
Findings
- 24 lakh water bodies have been enumerated, out of which 97.1% are in rural areas and only 2.9% are in urban areas.
- West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh are top 3 states with most water bodies.
- West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district has highest number of waterbodies.
- States/UTs with least water bodies: Sikkim, Chandigarh, Delhi.
- Maharashtra leads in water conservation schemes.
- 78% are man-made water bodies whereas 22% are natural water bodies.
- 2% are owned by private entities whereas rest are under public ownership.
- Water User Associations (WUA) has helped in preventing encroachments.