Ministry of Jal Shakti Conducts Census of Water Bodies Across India

NEW DELHI: The first-ever water body census carried out across the country revealed some key facts regarding the distribution of water bodies across the country. The process of evaluation of the water bodies was carried out by the Ministry of Jal Shakti under the centrally sponsored scheme named “Irrigation Census”.

The Ministry of Jal Shakti is under Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and aims to make optimal use of the water resources of the country including all natural and man-made water bodies. This census aims at making a comprehensive database of all water bodies including details like type, condition, encroachment status, storage capacity, usage etc.

The census revealed the presence of a total of 172492 water bodies across the state of Assam. This comprises of a total 3989 natural and 168503 man-made water bodies. Out of which, 170112 which account for 98.6 % of water bodies, are located in the rural regions of the country while a mere 2380, accounting for 1.4% of the bodies are located in the urban areas of the state. Another key statistic is that 164411 bodies are privately owned while 8081 are public properties. Making 95.3 % private while 4.7 % public ownership of the water bodies. A massive part of these water bodies, 167955 which is about 97.4 % of the total number, falls in flood-prone localities across the state.

98.2 % of all the water bodies in the state of Assam are still in use for various reasons including agriculture, pisciculture and other day-to-day usages while the rest are no longer in use due to various reasons. The largest number of water bodies are used as fisheries of different scales in the state. The second largest number of bodies are used for sourcing drinking water. The report also showed the high extent of encroachment on natural water bodies.

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