It was decided that the First Census of Water Bodies will be conducted along with the 6 th Minor Irrigation structures, since the convergence of 6 th MI census and First census of Water Bodies offers substantial savings in resources on planning, training of field staff, field work, scrutiny, data entry, validation etc because the coverage area of both the censuses in rural areas is the same. However, the first census of Water Bodies also covers urban areas and also takes into account all types of uses of Water Bodies like Irrigation, Industry, Pisciculture, Domestic/Drinking, Recreation, Religious purpose, Ground Water Recharge and other uses.

For the implementation of the RMIS scheme, each State/UT identifies a Nodal Department.State Statistical Cells are generally created within the Nodal Department so identified by the State Government.  These Cells assist the Head of the Nodal Department or Census Commissioner in the State in organizing, coordinating and supervising the water body census as an when planned by the Ministry.