The findings of Indias first water bodies census, which gives an in-depth list of the countrys ponds, tanks, lakes, and reservoirs, have been made public by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. The census, which was undertaken in 2018-19, identified almost 2.4 million water bodies across all states and union territories.What are these water bodiesAccording to the First Census Report on Water Bodies, water bodies are defined as any enclosed natural or man-made units used for water storage, including those used for irrigation, industrial, pisciculture, domestic/drinking, recreation, religious, or groundwater recharge. According to the research, these bodies of water typically take diverse forms and are known by numerous names, such as tanks, reservoirs, and ponds.According to the report, any facility that collects water from streams, springs, ice melt, rainfall, or drainage of water from residential or other areas, or stores water through diversion from a stream, nala, or river, is deemed a water body. According to the research, the district with the most water bodies in India is South 24 Pargana in West Bengal, with 355,000. Andhra Pradeshs Ananthapur (50,537) and West Bengals Howrah (37,301) are close behind.The water bodies excepted from the survey The census of water bodies excludes seven distinct types of bodies of water. Seas and lagoons free-flowing rivers, streams, springs, waterfalls, canals, and other bodies of water that do not have restricted water storage swimming pools covered water tanks built for the exclusive use of peoples homes for their own consumption water tanks created by factory owners for the usage of water as a raw material temporary water bodies created for mining, brick kilns, and construction activities, which may fill during the rainy season.Image: TwitterPreviously, the government maintained a list of water bodies that received federal aid through the Repair, Renovation, and Restoration (RRR) programme. However, in 2016, a Standing Committee of Parliament proposed the need for a separate census of water bodies. In response, the government performed the first water bodies census with the sixth Minor Irrigation (MI) census in 2018-19. According to the census report, the goal was to collect comprehensive data on all key characteristics of water bodies, such as their size, condition, status of encroachments, usage, storage capacity, and status of filling up storage.The census was conducted using conventional methods employing paper-based schedules in both rural and urban areas. Based on the document, the census employed three schedules: village, urban, and water body, and a smartphone was used to capture the latitude, longitude, and images of the water bodies. The census found 2.4 million water bodies, of which 1.6%, or 38,496, had been encroached upon. More than 95% of these encroachments occurred in rural regions, which is not surprising given that 97% of the water bodies surveyed by the census were located in rural areas.Encroachment was limited to less than a quarter of the area in nearly 63% of the encroached water bodies, whereas it was more than three-quarters of the area in around 12% of the water bodies. Uttar Pradesh had the most encroachment upon water bodies, accounting for about 40% or 15,301, followed by Tamil Nadu with 8,366 and Andhra Pradesh with 3,920. West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh reported no encroachments.
