Meghalaya has 13,332 water bodies out of which 96 per cent (12,798) are in rural areas and the remaining 4 per cent (534) are in urban areas.
This is as per the first-ever census of water bodies across the country conducted by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. The census was released today.
Further, out of the total water bodies in Meghalaya, 64.5 per cent (8,600) are privately owned whereas the remaining 35.5 per cent (4,732) are under public ownership. By location, 13,147 water bodies are in tribal areas and six water bodies are in flood prone areas.
The survey also found that 94.7 per cent (12,620) water bodies are ‘in use’ while 5.3 per cent (712) water bodies are reported to be ‘not in use’ on account of drying up, siltation, beyond repair and other reasons.
Among all the ‘in use’ water bodies, 80 per cent (10,098) are ponds, 16.6 per cent (2,095) are water conservation schemes/ percolation tanks/check dams and the remaining 3.4 per cent (427) are tanks, lakes, reservoirs etc.
Out of ‘in use’ water bodies (12,620), 72.4 per cent (9,142) water bodies are used for fishery purposes in the State.
There are 212 natural and 13,120 man-made water bodies in Meghalaya. Out of 212 natural water bodies, 97.6 per cent (207) water bodies are located in rural areas whereas 2.4 per cent (5) are located in urban areas.
Out of 13,120 man-made water bodies, 96 per cent (12,591) water bodies are located in rural areas whereas 4 per cent (529) are located in urban areas. Most of the man-made water bodies have original cost of construction between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
Out of 13,332 water bodies, the information on ‘filled up storage capacity’ and ‘status of filling’ was collected for 10,840 water bodies. During the reference year 2017-18, out of these 10,840 water bodies, 49.9 per cent (5,412) water bodies had fully filled up storage capacity, 38.7 per cent (4,195) had storage capacity filled upto three fourth level, 8.3 per cent (896) water bodies had storage capacity filled upto half level, 1.1 per cent (121) water bodies had storage capacity filled upto one fourth level whereas 2 per cent (216) had nil/negligible storage capacity.
Based on the criteria of filling up of storage capacity during the last five years, out of 10,840 water bodies, 51.7 per cent (5,609) water bodies are filled up every year, 40 per cent (4,332) water bodies are usually filled up, 5.2 per cent (566) rarely filled up and 3.1 per cent (333) found to be never filled up. Out of the total storage capacity (5,95,42,575 cubic meters) of ‘in use’ water bodies, the maximum storage capacity (68.7 per cent or 4,09,37,834 cubic meters) is attributed to reservoirs.
17.4 per cent (2,316) of the water bodies are basically water conservation schemes/percolation dams/check dams. Out of ‘in use’ water bodies, 70.5 per cent (8,894) are benefitting one city/town and 26.7 per cent (3,374) water bodies are fulfilling requirements of 2- 5 cities/ towns.
Out of 13,332 water bodies, the information on ‘water spread area’ was reported in 13,318 water bodies. Out of these 13,318 water bodies, 91.9 per cent (12,238) of the water bodies have water spread area less than 0.5 hectares.
In terms of storage capacity, out of total 13,332 water bodies, 39.2 per cent (5,220) water bodies have storage capacity between 100 to 1,000 cubic meters and majority of these water bodies are in rural areas.
Out of 13,332 water bodies, six water bodies are reported to be encroached. These are three ponds followed by two water conservation schemes/percolation dams/check dams, and one tank.
