Nation’s 63% Water Bodies in Odisha, WB, UP, AP & Assam: Jal Shakti Ministry Census

New Delhi: West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Assam are the top five states in terms of the number of water bodies in the country. These five states have around 63 per cent of the total water bodies in the country. This was reported in the first-ever water body census conducted in the country by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

As per the report, a total of 24,24,540 water bodies exist in India. Out of them, 97.1 per cent (23,55,055) are in rural areas while only 2.9 per cent (69,485) are in urban areas.

The water bodies taken into account in this survey included natural and man-made water bodies like ponds, tanks, lakes. This census also collected data on the encroachment of water bodies.

In the case of water bodies in urban areas, the top states were West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Tripura. In rural water bodies, the top five states were West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Assam.

Out of the water bodies in the country, 59.5 per cent were 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).

The census said 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.