State has 1,658 water bodies: Census Report
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, April 23 2023: For the first time in the history of the country, Ministry of Jal Shakti conducted the first-ever census of water bodies across the nation, showing 1,658 water bodies in Manipur.

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 to collect 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.

In the first census of water bodies, 1,658 water bodies have been enumerated in Manipur, out of which 82.6 per cent (1,369) are in rural areas and the remaining 17.4 per cent (289) in urban areas.

Majority of the water bodies are ponds followed by reservoirs and lakes.

The report shows that 61.9 per cent (1,026) of water bodies in the state are privately owned whereas the remaining 38.1 per cent (632) are under public ownership.

This reflects the dominance of private entities in ownership of water bodies.

Out of all the privately owned water bodies, a major chunk of 74.0 per cent (759) is in the hands of groups of individual farmers.

By location, 23.8 per cent (395) water bodies are in tribal areas and the remaining 76.2 per cent (1,263) are in the area under Drought Prone Areas Programme, flood prone area and other areas.

Out of 1,658 water bodies, 96.6 per cent (1,601) are "in use" whereas rest 3.4 per cent (57) are "not in use" on account of drying up, siltation and other reasons.

Out of 'in use' water bodies, majority of them are used for domestic/drinking purpose followed by pisciculture arid irrigation.

The percentage-wise distribution of water bodies vis-a-vis usage include irrigation (4.6 per cent), pisciculture (22.8 per cent), domestic/drinking (70 percent), recreation (1.2 per cent), religious (0.7 per cent), others (0.7 per cent) .

In the state, there are 222 natural and 1,436 man-made water bodies.

Out of 222 natural water bodies, 89.2 per cent (198) water bodies are located in rural areas and the remaining 10.8 per cent (24) are located in urban areas.

Out of 1,436 man-made water bodies, 81.5 per cent (1,171) are located in rural areas and the remaining 18.5 per cent (265) are located in urban areas.

Most of the man-made water bodies have original cost of construction up to Rs 50,000 .

Out of total water bodies, the information on 'filled up storage capacity' and status of filling' was collected for 1,656 water bodies.

During reference year 2017-18, out of these 1,656 water bodies, 17.7 per cent (294) had fully filled up storage capacity, 60.7 per cent (1,005) had storage capacity filled up to three-fourth level, 18.4 per cent (304) had storage capacity filled up to half level, 2.2 per cent (36) had storage capacity filled up to one-fourth level whereas 1 per cent (17) had nil/negligible Storage capacity.

Based on the criteria of filling up of storage capacity during last five years, out of 1,656 water bodies, 39.0 per cent (646) water bodies are found to be filled up every year, 46.6 per cent (772) are usually filled up, 13.1 per cent (217) are rarely filled up and 1.3 per cent (21) are never filled up.

Out of all water bodies, only two water bodies are covered in District Irrigation Plan/State Irrigation Plan.

Both these water bodies are ponds.

State has reported encroachment in six water bodies.

Out of 'in use' water bodies, 91.4 per cent (1,464) are benefitting one city/town, 8.2 per cent (131) water bodies are fulfilling requirements of 2-5 cities/towns and the remaining 0.4 per cent (6) water bodies are benefitting more than five (05) cities/towns.

Out of all water bodies, 90.6 per cent (1,502) of the water bodies have water spread area of less than 0.5 hectares whereas 0.2 per cent (3) has water spread area exceeding 50 hectares.

In terms of storage capacity, 58.6 per cent (971) of water bodies has storage capacity between 1,000 to 10,000 cubic metres, whereas 10.1 per cent (168) water bodies have storage capacity more than 10,000 cubic metres.

Comment