In the first-ever national census of lakes conducted by the Union jal shakti ministry, Naduhas emerged at the top with 13,629 lakes.
The Irrigation census sponsored by the Centre was launched to have a comprehensive national Database of all waterbodies, covering all aspects, including type, condition, status of encroachments, use, storage, capacity and status of storage, both in rural and urban areas. The findings that were released on Sunday shows that Tamil Nadu stands fourth (43,837) in the number of tanks, after Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh. The ministry had enumerated over 24 lakh water bodies in the country during the census.
The assessment of water bodies and their condition comes in the wake of a Parliamentary standing committee recommending a separate census and a central database. For the first time, the Centre has collected information on encroachment of water bodies. While 1.6% of the enumerated water bodies across the country are encroached, 8,366 water bodies in Tamil Nadu, which is 8% of its total count, have been encroached upon. Significantly, the encroachment of 4,933 water bodies alone could be assessed.