India conducts first-ever census of water bodies; Here's some revelations

The Indian government conducted its first-ever census of water bodies. the census will take a comprehensive inventory of India's water resources, including natural and man-made water bodies like ponds, tanks lakes, and more. The inventory has collected data on the encroachment of water bodies.

The census also highlighted the disparities between rural and urban areas and other issues related with varying levels of encroachment and reveals crucial insights into the country's water resources.

About 2,424,540 water bodies have been enumerated in the country by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, out of which 97.1 per cent are in rural areas and only 2.9 per cent are in urban areas.


The top five states in terms of a number of water bodies are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam -- which constitute around 63 per cent of the total water bodies in the country.

The top five States in terms of the number of water bodies in urban areas are West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura, whereas in rural areas, top five States are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam.

West Bengal has highest number of ponds and reservoirs, whereas Andhra Pradesh has highest number of tanks, Tamil Nadu has highest number of lakes and Maharashtra is the leading state for water conservation scheme.

59.5 per cent of water bodies are ponds, followed by tanks (15.7 per cent), reservoirs (12.1 per cent), Water conservation schemes/percolation tanks/check dams (9.3 per cent), lakes (0.9 per cent) and others (2.5 per cent).

It was found that 55.2 per cent of water bodies are owned by private entities whereas 44.8 per cent of water bodies are in the domain of public ownership.

According to the report, 9.6% (2,32,637) water bodies are located in tribal areas, 8.8% (2,13,454) in flood prone areas, 7.2% (1,74,592) in the area under “Drought Prone Areas Programme”, 2% (49,470) water bodies are in the naxal affected areas, 0.7% (16,018) under Desert Development Programme (DDP) whereas remaining 71.7% (17,38,369) water bodies are located in other areas.

A major proportion of water bodies i.e., 83.7% (20,30,040) are in use whereas remaining 16.3% (3,94,500) are not in use on account of drying up, construction, siltation, destroyed beyond repair, salinity and other reasons.

(With inputs from ANI)