Purnanjali Chandra

A systematic, consistent, national-level dataset on India’s water bodies that could inform efforts to improve water management and increase resilience has been long awaited. The National Water Body Census 2023 is a crucial milestone in creating such a database. Undertaken by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the water census surveyed and disaggregated 2.4 million water bodies.

You are here Home > Blogs > India’s First Water Body Census: Connecting the Missing Links India is expected to be the most severely affected nation with global water scarcity projected to increase from 933 million in 2016 to 1.7-2.4 billion people in 2050. Ranked 13th amongst the most water-stressed nations in 2019, with just 4% of the world’s water reserves and 18% of the global population, India must prioritize water conservation, evaluation and management.

Krishna Kumar is a Junior Program Associate with the Urban Water Resilience team at WRI India. He works at the intersection of urban water challenges and development in cities, such as water sensitive urban design and restoration of water bodies and water quality aspects in cities. Prior to joining WRI India, Krishna worked at an organization dedicated to sustainable development projects for Telangana state government.