The demand for water has been increasing due to the intensification of agriculture and increased economic activities. But the un-utilised water potential available for the future use has been declining at a faster pace across States.

The projections made by the Ministry of Water Resources also show that there is going to be a severe demand-supply gap in water by 2050. So there is a need to increase the storage capacities of the water bodies wherever possible.

But the First Census on Water Bodies released, by the Ministry of Jal Sakthi in February , reveals a rampant encroachment of water bodies in across States. What is the status of State-level encroachment in water bodies and how will this impact water availability?

Per the First Census on Water Bodies, India has a total of 24,24,540 water bodies, of which the majority are ponds (59.5 per cent), followed by tanks (15.7 per cent), reservoirs (12.1 per cent) and the remaining 12.7 per cent are classified as water conservation schemes/check dams/percolation tanks, lakes and others.

As expected, out of the total enumerated water bodies, 97.1 per cent are located in rural areas, and the balance in urban areas. Not surprisingly, the Census of water bodies also reveals that among the total water bodies, 83.7 per cent are in use, while the remaining 16.3 per cent (3,94,500) are not in use on account of “drying up, construction, siltation, destroyed beyond repair, salinity, industrial effluents, etc”.

As regards the ownership of water bodies, the Census reveals that about 55.2 per cent of them are owned by private entities, while the remaining 44.8 per cent are under the control of the public sector. Seventy-eight per cent of water bodies are man-made, while the rest are naturally created. Interestingly, the majority of the water bodies are earthen in nature with a construction cost of up to ₹1,00,000.

Encroachment Status

One of the important revelations of the census is about the data on the level of encroachment of water bodies in different States. Although various committees and researchers have underlined the severity of the encroachment in water bodies, none of the agencies have brought out the data on the level of encroachment so far. The census data shows that above 35,000 water bodies, mostly ponds and tanks, have been encroached across States.

Since about 93 per cent of the total encroached water bodies are small water bodies (ponds, tanks and lakes), it will be interesting to understand where these small water bodies are located. In terms of absolute numbers, the top five States where encroachment is found to be very high are Uttar Pradesh (15,213), followed by Tamil Nadu (7,828), Telangana (2,748), Andhra Pradesh (2,733) and Madhya Pradesh (1,765).

Interestingly, the four southern States Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana together account for about 40 per cent (14,219) of the total encroached small water bodies (Table 1).

In terms of the percentage of water bodies encroached upon to the total number of water bodies in each State, the highest encroachment is found in Delhi (12.34 per cent) followed by Punjab (9.94 per cent), Tamil Nadu (8.17 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (6.32 per cent), Telangana (6.31 per cent) and Karnataka (3.59 per cent).

The encroachment in small water bodies is very high in most southern States where the tanks have been an important source of irrigation for centuries (see Figure 1).

The impacts

The rampant encroachment in water spread area of the small water bodies reduces storage capacity of the water bodies, resulting in reduced irrigated area. The data available on the area irrigated by tanks in various States reinforces the deleterious impact of encroachment.

For instance, the area under tank irrigation in India has drastically declined from 46.30 lakh hectares (lha) in 1960-61 to 16.68 lha in 2019-20.

Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, the State with the second highest encroachment level, the tank irrigated area declined drastically from 9.36 lha to 3.72 lha during the same period. A similar trend is seen in other Southern States — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana; all these States have a large number of small water bodies.

The reduced availability of water in water bodies due to the encroachment will also reduce the recharging capacity of wells located in the command area. Data available from different minor irrigation censuses show that the number of defunct wells has increased over time possibly due to encroachment.

Therefore, the Centre and States must join hands to curb encroachment in water bodies. The 16th report of the Standing Committee on Water Resources on ‘Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies’ underlined that most of the water bodies in were encroached upon by State agencies themselves. Given the increased scarcity of water, the government must stop the practice of encroaching on water bodies for different purposes.

Considering the increased encroachment in small water bodies, the Madras High Court Madurai Bench in its judgment delivered on September 6, 2014 underlined that no approval be given for the layout or building plan on lands located on water bodies.

This should be honoured in letter and spirit. Shockingly, as per the FCWB, a total of 10,95,913 water bodies were never repaired since their creation. The paucity of funds at the State level may be one of the reasons for this.

Therefore, the scheme of Repair, Renovation and Restoration of water bodies implemented during the 11th Plan period should be reintroduced to remove encroachments. Given the increasing variability of rainfall due to climate change, concerted efforts are needed to increase the storage capacity of water by removing the encroachments in water bodies.

The writer is former full-time Member (Official), CACP. Views expressed are personal