First-Ever Waterbody Census

• 21 Apr 2023

Recently, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has conducted the country's first census of water bodies, providing valuable insights into their distribution and usage across various states and districts.

• India has 24.24 lakh waterbodies, with West Bengal having the most (7.47 lakh) and Sikkim having the least (134).
• West Bengal has the highest number of ponds and reservoirs, Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of tanks, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of lakes, and Maharashtra is the leading state with water conservation schemes.
• West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas has been ranked as the top district having the highest number of waterbodies across the country.
• Ponds make up the majority of waterbodies (59.5%), followed by tanks (15.7%), reservoirs (12.1%), water conservation schemes/percolation tanks/check dams (9.3%), lakes (0.9%), and others (2.5%).
• Six other states have over one lakh waterbodies, while four states and UTs account for less than 1,000 waterbodies each.
• The census defines a waterbody as any natural or man-made unit bounded on all sides with some or no masonry work used for storing water for irrigation or other purposes such as industrial, pisciculture, domestic/drinking, recreation, religious, ground water recharge, etc.
• The census collected data on encroachment of waterbodies for the first time, revealing that 1.6% of all enumerated waterbodies are encroached, with 95.4% of encroached waterbodies in rural areas and the remaining 4.6% in urban areas.