Over 23% of water bodies in J&K have ‘dried up’: Study

Srinagar: The first-ever census has revealed around 76 percent of water bodies in Jammu and Kashmir are `in use’, while over 23 percent have ‘dried up beyond repair’.

For the first time in India, the government has conducted the census of water bodies under the centrally sponsored scheme, “Irrigation Census”. It provides a comprehensive inventory of India’s water resources, including natural and man-made water bodies like ponds, tanks, lakes, and more. It also collects data on the encroachment of water bodies.

According to the census, there are around 24 lakh water bodies across the country.  In the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir, there are over 9,700 water bodies out of which over 76 percent (7, 493) are ‘in use’ while over 23 percent (2,272) have been categorized as ‘not in use’, defining them as ‘dried up beyond repair’.

As per the census, a total of 9,765 water bodies have been enumerated in J&K, out of which 99.2% (9,687) are in rural areas and the remaining 0.8% (78), are in urban areas, noting that the majority of the water bodies are ponds.

The census further pointed out that 48.6% (4,749) are privately owned water bodies across J&K, whereas the remaining 51.4% (5,016) are under public ownership. By location, 27 water bodies are located in flood-prone areas and 1,144 water bodies are located in tribal areas.

Out of ‘in use’ water bodies, the census highlighted, a major proportion of water bodies are used for domestic/ drinking purposes followed by irrigation purposes.

Further, in J&K, the report indicated that there are 36% (3,519) natural and 64% (6,246) man-made water bodies, and out of 3,519 natural water bodies, 99.5% (3,502) are located in rural areas whereas the remaining 0.5% (17) are located in urban areas.

“Out of 6,246 man-made water bodies, 99% (6,185) water bodies are located in rural areas and the remaining 1% (61), are situated in urban areas.”

The census also noted that J&K has reported encroachment in 103 water bodies out of all the enumerated water bodies, of which 95, it stated, are ponds. Out of 9,765 water bodies, the information on the ‘water spread area’ was reported in 9,759 water bodies.

Out of these 9,759 water bodies, the results note, 98.4% (9,602) of the water bodies have a water spread area of fewer than 0.5 hectares, whereas, 1.1% (104) water bodies have a water spread area between 0.5 hectares to 1.0 hectares and the remaining 0.5% (53) water bodies have more than one-hectare water spread area; in terms of storage capacity while 74.1% (7,238) water bodies have storage capacity between 0 to 100 Cubic Meters.

The census further shows that 9209 water bodies in J&K have never been repaired. Only 115 water bodies were repaired before 2009. In 2009, 11 water bodies were repaired; 51 in 2010; 20 in 2011; 34 in 2012; 71 in 2013; 38 in 2014; 59 in 2015; 24 in 2016; 54 in 2017; 34 in 2018, and 45 were repaired after 2018.