India’s First Water Bodies Census: All you need to know about key findings
The Community News/New Delhi
India has over 24 lakh water bodies of which only 69,485 (2.9%) are in urban areas of the country, the Indian government’s first Water Bodies Census has revealed.
As per report, India’s rural areas seem to have protected its traditional water sources as over 23 lakh (97.1%) water bodies still exist in these areas.
West Bengal leads in highest number of waterbodies, followed by UP, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam, and these states adds upto 63% of all water bodies in the country.
Of the total water bodies, 59.5% are ponds, 15.7% tanks, 12.1% reservoirs, 9.3% water conservation schemes, 0.9% lakes and 2.5% others, it reads.
Of these, private entities own 55.2% water bodies while 44.8% are in public domain or under public ownership.
Maximum water bodies are owned by Panchayats, followed by state departments that are in public domain while private ones are owned by individual farmers or groups.
Major number of water bodies are used for pisciculture followed by irrigation purposes and 78% of these are man-made while only 22% are natural.
38,496 water bodies are reported to be facing encroachment of which 95.4% are in rural and 4.6% in urban areas.
72.4% water bodies have less than 0.5 hectare area, 13.4% have area between 0.5-1 hectare, 11.1% have area between 1-5 hectares and remaining 3.1% are spread on more than 5 hectares area.
Want to read more results of India’s first water bodies census, click here: https://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/
Click here to download All India report: https://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/document/all-india-report-of-first-census-of-water-bodies-volume-1/
Click here to read state-wise report: https://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/document/all-india-report-of-first-census-of-water-bodies-volume-1/
