Wetland authorities, in the last three months, have shown eagerness to inspect water bodies.

Out of 2,31,195 wetlands identified all over the country, the environment ministry has informed Parliament that it has completed the boundary demarcation of 78,801 water bodies. The wetland watchdog's action came after getting a reminder from the Supreme Court in December last year, directing them to ensure the demarcation and ground truthing of the water bodies are conducted within three months.

"Based on the information provided by the states and Union Territories, out of the 2,31,195 wetlands identified in Space Application Centre (SAC) Atlas, 2021, ground-truthing of 1,60,237 wetlands and boundary demarcation of 78,801 wetlands have been completed, as on March 27, 2025," Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state for environment, forest and climate change, told the Rajya Sabha.

Singh was responding to a question asked by parliamentarian Anbumani Ramadoss, seeking details of the steps taken after getting the Supreme Court directive.

He further informed that out of 26,883 wetlands identified in SAC Atlas, 2021, ground-truthing of 25,282 wetlands and boundary demarcation of 17,940 wetlands in Tamil Nadu have been completed as of March 27.

The wetlands were identified using satellite data from the Space Application Centre (SAC) in Isro in 2021. Based on the figures, the wetland watchdog conducted ground truthing, actual inspection of these water bodies.

Before 2017, according to Isro, the number of wetlands in India with an area of more than 2.25 hectares was 2,01,503. The apex court in December 2024 noted that ground truthing had been neglected by almost all the states, except Punjab to some extent. The court was disappointed to see that nothing was done for the demarcation of these wetlands.