Odisha is among the top five states comprising 63 per cent of the total water bodies in the country

Bhubaneswar:24/4/23 The Ministry of Jal Shakti has conducted the first-ever census of water bodies across the nation. The census provides a comprehensive inventory of India’s water resources, including natural and man-made water bodies like ponds, tanks, lakes, and more, and collects data on the encroachment of water bodies.

The Census also highlighted disparities between rural and urban areas and varying levels of encroachment and revealed crucial insights into the country’s water resources.

According to the census, Odisha is among the top five states comprising 63 per cent of the total water bodies in the country. West Bengal has highest number of water bodies followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam.

The census, which was conducted in 2018-19, also highlighted disparities between rural and urban areas and varying levels of encroachment and revealed crucial insights into the country’s water resources.

The census was launched under the centrally sponsored scheme, “Irrigation Census” in convergence with the 6th Minor Irrigation Census in order to have a comprehensive national database of all water bodies.

The information on all important aspects of the water bodies including their type, condition, status of encroachments, use, storage capacity, status of filling up of storage, etc was collected. It covered all the water bodies located in rural as well as urban areas that are in-use or not in-use.

The census also took into account all type of uses of water bodies like irrigation, industry, pisciculture, domestic/ drinking, recreation, religious, ground water recharge etc. Census has been successfully completed and the All India and State-wise reports have been published.

‘Incredible India’ is endowed with diverse and distinct water bodies. Water is an important aspect for development which it is linked with every Sustainable Development Goal. It is essential and fundamental for life itself.

Water is a recyclable resource but its availability is limited and the gap between the supply and demand is widening over time. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to conserve and preserve water bodies.

Ministry of Jal Shakti is the nodal ministry responsible for laying down policy guidelines and programmes for the development, conservation and management of water as a national resource.

The Ministry has multidimensional approach towards water sector, on one hand it is spearheading the ambitious programmes on providing safe and adequate drinking water to every household in the country, eliminating open defecation in rural areas, rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries, improving the safety and operational performance of existing dams, etc and on the other hand, it is involved in assessment, development and regulation of the country’s water resources through technical guidance, scrutiny, clearance and monitoring.

The finalization of results and completion of this report has been made possible by the strenuous efforts of all the officers and staff of Minor Irrigation (Stat) Wing of the Ministry of Jal Shakti under the supervision and support of Secretary, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti, ankaj Kumar, as well as dedicated technical support provided by National Informatics Centre and determined efforts made by the State/UT Governments.

The IEC Division of the Ministry is ensuring dissemination of the Census report across the nation and especially for planners, research scholars, agricultural and water scientists, policy makers, administrators and all other stakeholders in this sector.