According to the official Statement: The first census of water bodies was conducted with the reference year 2017-18 across the country in 33 States/UTs except Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep. The objective of the 1st Census of Water Bodies is to have a comprehensive national database of all water bodies by collecting information on all important aspects of the water body including their type, condition, status of encroachments, use, storage capacity, status of filling up of storage etc. The census also took into account all types of uses of water bodies like irrigation, industry, pisciculture, domestic/ drinking, recreation, religious, groundwater recharge etc.

The contributors to this official data creation are Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.

The dataset is released under National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) India