First-ever census on water bodies in India, Census reveals crucial insights into country’s water resources

NEW DELHI: For the first time in the history of the country, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and able guidance of Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has conducted the first-ever census of water bodies across the nation. The census provides a comprehensive inventory of India’s water resources, including natural and man-made water bodies like ponds, tanks, lakes, and more, and to collect data on the encroachment of water bodies. The Census also highlighted disparities between rural and urban areas and varying levels of encroachment and revealed crucial insights into the country’s water resources.

The census was launched under the centrally sponsored scheme, ‘Irrigation Census’ in convergence with the 6th Minor Irrigation Census in order to have a comprehensive national database of all water bodies. The information on all important aspects of the water bodies including their type, condition, status of encroachments, use, storage capacity, status of filling up of storage, etc was collected. It covered all the water bodies located in rural as well as urban areas that are in-use or not in-use. The census also took into account all type of uses of water bodies like irrigation, industry, pisciculture, domestic/ drinking, recreation, religious, ground water recharge etc. The census has been successfully completed and the all India and State-wise reports have been published.

The key features/findings of the Census are as follows–

* 24,24,540 water bodies have been enumerated in the country, out of which 97.1% (23,55,055) are in rural areas and only 2.9% (69,485) are in urban areas.

*Top 5 states in terms of number of water bodies are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam which constitute around 63% of the total water bodies in the country.

*Top 5 states in terms of number of water bodies in urban areas are West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura, whereas in rural areas, top 05 States are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam.

*Top 5 states which lead in the private owned water bodies are West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand.

* Top 5 states wherein major use of water bodies is in pisciculture are West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh;

*Top 5 states wherein major use of water bodies is in irrigation are Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat.

‘Incredible India’ is endowed with diverse and distinct water bodies. Water is an important aspect for development which it is linked with every Sustainable Development Goal. It is essential and fundamental for life itself. Water is a recyclable resource but its availability is limited and the gap between the supply and demand is widening over time. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to conserve and preserve water bodies. Ministry of Jal Shakti is the nodal ministry responsible for laying down policy guidelines and programmes for the development, conservation and management of water as a national resource.

The Census report is available on the Department’s website: https://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in. Key results are also disseminated through Bhuvan portal. (PIB)