WATERBODY
CENSUS – ENVIRONMENT
News:
Explained | What did
India’s first national water-body census find?
What's
in the news?
●
The Ministry
of Jal Shakti has released the report of India’s first water bodies census,
which provides a comprehensive database of ponds, tanks, lakes and reservoirs
in the country.
Waterbody
Census:
Key
takeaways:
●
97.1%
of water bodies enumerated in the country are in rural areas and only 2.9% (69,485) are in urban areas.
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Top
5 States in terms of number of water bodies are West Bengal,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam which constitute around 63% of
the total water bodies in the country.
●
Top
5 States in terms of number of water bodies in urban areas
are West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura, whereas in
rural areas, top 05 States are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
Odisha and Assam.
●
59.5%
of water bodies are ponds, followed by tanks (15.7%),
reservoirs (12.1%), Water conservation schemes/percolation tanks/check dams
(9.3%), lakes (0.9%) and others (2.5%).
●
55.2%
of water bodies are owned by private entities whereas 44.8% of
water bodies are in the domain of public ownership.
●
Out of all public owned water bodies,
maximum water bodies are owned by Panchayats, followed by State
Irrigation/State WRD.
●
Out of all private owned water bodies,
maximum water bodies are in hands of Individual owner/farmer followed by group
of individuals and other private bodies.
Aim:
●
The census aimed to collect 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.
Methodology:
●
Software
for data entry and a mobile app for capturing the location and visual
of the water bodies were developed, and data-processing workshops were
conducted to train the surveyors in all States and Union territories.
●
The census was built on existing and publicly
available satellite-derived datasets.
What
consists of “Water Bodies”?
●
First Census Report considers “all natural or man-made units bounded
on all sides with some or no masonry work used for storing water for irrigation
or other purposes (e.g: industrial, pisciculture, domestic/ drinking,
recreation, religious, ground water recharge etc.)” as water bodies.
●
According to the census, the water bodies
“are usually of various types known by different names like tank, reservoirs,
ponds etc.”.
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A structure where water from ice-melt,
streams, springs, rain or drainage of water from residential or other areas is
accumulated or water is stored by diversion from a stream, nala or river will
also be treated as a water body.
Excluded
Water Bodies:
Seven
specific types of water bodies were excluded from the
count. They were:
●
Oceans and lagoons.
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Rivers, streams, springs, waterfalls,
canals, etc. which are free flowing, without any bounded storage of water.
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Swimming pools.
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Covered water tanks created for a specific
purpose by a family or household for their own consumption.
●
A water tank constructed by a factory
owner for consumption of water as raw material or consumable.
●
Temporary water bodies created by digging
for mining, brick kilns, and construction activities, which may get filled
during the rainy season.
●
Pucca open water tanks created only for
cattle to drink water.
Key
findings of the report:
1.
Districts with highest number of water bodies:
●
As per the report, West Bengal’s South 24 Pargana has been ranked as the district
having the highest (3.55 lakh) number of water bodies across the country.
●
The district is followed by Andhra
Pradesh’s Anantapur (50,537) and West Bengal’s Howrah (37,301).
2.
Encroachment of water bodies:
●
The census found that 1.6% of enumerated water bodies - 38,496 out of 24,24,540 had been
encroached upon.
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Uttar
Pradesh accounted for almost 40% (15,301) of water bodies
under encroachment, followed by Tamil Nadu (8,366) and Andhra Pradesh (3,920).
●
No
encroachment was reported from West Bengal, Sikkim,
Arunachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
3.
Most water bodies in the country are very small:
●
The vast majority of India’s water bodies
are less than one hectare (ha)
large. This means locating and keeping track of them is likely to remain a
challenge.
4.
Water bodies show regional patterns that correlate with rainfall:
●
In general, in drier states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, water bodies
tend to be larger and publicly held.
○
In drier states, the water bodies are
primarily used for irrigation and
groundwater recharge.
●
In the wetter parts of the country, like Kerala, West Bengal, and states
in the northeast, more than three-quarters of the water bodies are privately
owned.
○
In wetter states, domestic use and pisciculture dominate. Mid-sized water bodies are
largely panchayat-owned.
5.
Most water bodies have never been repaired or rejuvenated:
●
Several water bodies were classified as
“not in use”, meaning despite the recent interest in rejuvenating water bodies,
most of them have never been repaired or revived.
THREATS
FACED BY WATER BODIES IN INDIA:
1.
Increasing temperatures:
●
India is witnessing a repeat of 2021
conditions, when temperatures touched 40 degrees Celsius as early as February
in some parts of the country.
2.
Climate Change’s Impact:
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Climate change impacts are about heat - increased and scorching
temperatures and about variable and extreme rain.
●
Both have a direct correlation with the
water cycle.
3.
Possibility of El Nino conditions:
●
Globe saw the event of triple dip La Niña in the last few
years - the Pacific water currents that are known to bring cooler temperatures
globally.
●
But global warming has offset this cooling
effect of La Niña.
●
Situation is bound to be worse in El Nino
conditions.
4.
Varying Rain Pattern:
●
The number of rainy days in India will
further go down, but extreme rainy days will increase.
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This will have a huge impact on India’s
plans for water management.
Concerns
in Waterbody Census:
1.
Gaps in conducting census:
●
Water bodies have an important role in supporting biodiversity. They harbour
fish that birds feed on and provide roosting and breeding spaces for resident
and migratory birds.
●
These ecological
functions are related to the size and location of the water bodies. But the
water body census does not address questions about this.
●
The report itself noted in its preamble
that water bodies “support healthy ecosystems”, yet the focus was exclusively
on human use, which means only pisciculture or fish farming, which is seeded
and does not reflect natural biodiversity is featured.
2.
Inconsistencies:
●
The census groups water bodies into five
types: ponds, tanks, lakes, reservoirs, and water conservation schemes.
●
Its glossary
defines a pond as a smaller water body than a tank, while “water
conservation structures” might include check dams and percolation tanks.
●
However, these categories are not mutually exclusive: many tanks that
were traditionally used directly for irrigation primarily serve as recharge
structures today.
3.
No standardized data across states:
●
Some states like Gujarat don’t show any
water bodies not being in use, whereas Karnataka reports almost 80% of its
water bodies as being in a state of disuse. This suggests differences in
interpretation by the enumerators.
WAY
FORWARD:
1.
Address Rising Demand:
●
With total water demand in India expected
to rise by over 70% by 2025, a huge
demand-supply gap is expected in the coming years.
2.
Ensuring Health:
●
Poor
water quality and lack of adequate access to sanitation
are also major causes of disease and poor health.
●
Proper access to potable water will
minimise health issues and medical expenses.
3.
Supporting Economy:
●
Adequate water security will act as a potentially
significant booster on economic growth as it will reduce the costs for water
infrastructure.