First census of water bodies paints grim picture for Jammu and Kashmir, over 23% water bodies not in use

Of the 9,687 water bodies in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir, 5,227 are ponds, 438 reservoirs, 178 tanks and 37 lakes. It further categorises 3,778 water bodies as other water bodies. In urban areas, 29 have been categorised as ponds, one as a tank and three as reservoirs, while 45 have been categorised as others. Interestingly, Srinagar city in the Kashmir valley has two big lakes but the census shows that there is no lake in the urban areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

While the department has considered any water body having a minimum water spread of two hectares in a rural setting and one hectare in urban setting as a water body, in north east, Sikkim, hilly state and Jammu and Kashmir the criteria has been set up as one hectare and half hectare respectively.

The census reveals of the 9,765 water bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, only 7,493 are “in use” – which includes 3,220 ponds, 150 tanks, 31 lakes and 415 reservoirs, besides 23 water conservation schemes/percolation tanks/check dams and 3,654 other water bodies.

The report says that 2,272 water bodies (23.26 per cent) – including 2,036 ponds, 29 tanks, 6 lakes, 26 reservoirs, 6 water conservation schemes and 169 other water bodies – are “not in use”. It says the water bodies are not in use/non functional “on account of drying up, construction, destroyed beyond repair, salinity, industrial effluents etc”.

It further says that 4,649 water bodies are privately owned while 5,016 are publicly-owned water bodies. The census further reveals that 3,519 water bodies in Jammu and Kashmir are natural while 6,246 (64 per cent) are man-made.