India is blessed with a wide variety of unique traditional water bodies, including ponds, tanks, lakes, vayalgams, ahars, Bawaris, talabs, and others, that may be found throughout the nation. They are crucial to preserving and reestablishing ecological balance. In addition to serving as supplies of drinking water, they also serve to replenish groundwater, prevent flooding, sustain biodiversity, and give many people chances for a living.

India is currently dealing with a serious water crisis, where 100 million people are directly affected by a national water scarcity, and many large cities are experiencing a severe water shortage. According to projections from the United Nations and Niti Ayog, 40% of India’s population won’t have access to clean drinking water by 2030, and the situation will get worse as the demand for water doubles the availability.

Water bodies have experienced constant stress over the past few decades, mostly as a result of uncontrolled expansion and fast urbanisation. Flash floods have been linked to water body encroachment in Chennai (2014), Jammu and Kashmir (2014), Uttarakhand (2013), and Mumbai (2005). (2015).

Further, water bodies are being polluted by untreated effluents and sewage that are continuously being dumped into them. Across the country, 86 water bodies are critically polluted, having a chemical oxygen demand or COD concentration of more than 250 mg/l, which is the discharge standard for a polluting source such as sewage treatment plants and industrial effluent treatment plants.

The number of water bodies is quickly decreasing in urban India. For instance, Bangalore had 262 lakes in the 1960s. Only 10 hold water right now. Similar to this, Ahmedabad listed 137 lakes in 2001. However, 65 have already been demolished and constructed upon, as of 2012. Another example is Hyderabad, which has lost 3,245 hectares of its wetlands during the past 12 years.

The decline in both the quality and quantity of these bodies of water has reduced their ability to provide various economic and environmental services significantly. The Bengaluru floods have reignited the debate over the rampant filling of water bodies and unplanned constructions on lake beds. According to environmentalists, this was a disaster waiting to happen as a result of rampant urbanisation at the expense of ecology. Filling or drying up of bodies of water, as well as encroachment on lake beds, is common in all cities as a result of the pressures of accommodating a growing population.

According to data from the Jal Shakti ministry, nearly 37,000 water bodies in India have been encroached upon. Though Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of encroachments (15,301), the southern states fare no better in this regard. Tamil Nadu (8,366), Andhra Pradesh (3,920), Telangana (3,032), and Karnataka (948) are among the top ten states in terms of water body encroachment.

In percentage terms, Punjab ranks at the top with almost 10 percent of its water bodies encroached upon – Tamil Nadu (7.82 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (6.24 per cent) and Telangana (4.73 per cent) come next.

Recognizing the gravity of the problem confronting water bodies, the Centre launched the Repair, Renovation, and Restoration of Water Bodies scheme in 2005 with the goal of comprehensively improving and restoring traditional water bodies. These included increasing tank storage capacity, groundwater recharge, increased drinking water availability, and improving catchment areas of tank commands and others. 

The Jal Shakti Ministry under Gajendra Singh Shekhawat announced the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain – it is a time-bound, mission-mode water conservation campaign, and a positive step toward rainwater harvesting, water body rejuvenation, reuse of treated wastewater, and intensive afforestation.

Improving the health of water bodies is of utmost importance for meeting the rising demand for water augmentation because water bodies provide various ecosystem services that are required to manage microclimate, biodiversity and nutrient cycling.

Many cities are working to conserve water bodies, such as the steps taken in the capital city of Delhi. The rejuvenation of 201 water bodies has been completed in order to transform Delhi into a city of lakes. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) intends to revive 155 bodies, while the Flood and Irrigation Department intends to revive 46. According to DJB, the goal is to achieve biological oxygen demand (BOD) to 10ppm and total suspended solids to 10mg/l. The Delhi government’s establishment of the Wetlands Authority is also a welcome step toward notifying and conserving natural water bodies.

Water body conservation is a cause that requires widespread community mobilisation and awareness. Sadhguru, India’s spiritual leader, promoted water conservation in 2017 by launching the massive ecological campaign Rally for Rivers in an effort to revitalise India’s dying rivers. Sadhguru launched Rally for Rivers on September 3, 2017 to revitalise India’s rapidly depleting rivers, and he personally drove over 9300 kilometres through 16 states to raise awareness about the dire situation. The Rally, which drew thousands of people to over 180 public events, became the world’s largest public-backed, mass awareness campaign. With over 162 million supporters, Rally for Rivers is the world’s largest ecological movement today.

To achieve the goal of water body revival, it is critical to recognise that one solution may not fit all water bodies. The approach will differ depending on the purpose, ecological services, livelihood, and socio-cultural practices of each water body. An integrated approach that considers long-term sustainability is required, beginning with the planning stage and looking at each water body as well as its catchment. To make it a reality, we must invest in governance, institutional capacity building, strong regulations, and enforcement, or we will be left behind.