Union Minister Anupriya Patel on Friday said 20.71 per cent of groundwater samples analysed in 502 districts across 26 states/UTs were found to contain nitrate above the permissible limit of 45 mg/L.Quoting the Annual Ground Water Quality Report-2025, she said the maximum number of affected districts (48) lie in Uttar Pradesh followed by 44 districts in Madhya Pradesh, 38 districts in Tamil Nadu and 33 districts each in Maharashtra and Telangana.While in Punjab, 21 districts have reported nitrate contamination in the groundwater, 22 districts in Haryana have reported the same. Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the problem in six of their districts each, she noted.”Groundwater quality is monitored across the country through groundwater quality monitoring stations. The analysed data is published in the annual groundwater quality reports of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). Nitrate contamination above the permissible limit has been observed in parts of 502 districts across 26 states/UTs,” the Minister of State for the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers said in response to a query in the Lok Sabha.She also informed the House that the government has not conducted any specific studies on pesticide residues, environmental impacts of excessive fertiliser usage, health impacts of fertiliser/agrochemical use or soil degradation specifically linked to agricultural chemical use.Patel further said excess nitrogen is primarily lost through nitrate leaching, resulting in groundwater nitrate contamination. Studies have also shown that groundwater nitrate levels increase with fertiliser application rates, with higher contamination observed in high fertiliser-use areas, she said.”The government is promoting sustainable and balanced use of fertilisers through judicious use of synthetic fertilisers, adopting alternative fertilisers, promoting organic/natural farming and implementing resource conservation technologies. Achieving balanced fertilisation requires a multi-pronged strategy that integrates policy, technology and farmer participation,” she said.The Centre had recently stated that the ‘Baseline Water Quality Assessment Report’, which the National Green Tribunal has sought in a matter concerning rising nitrate contamination in groundwater across different parts of the country, is expected to be completed by September.The government, through its Central Ground Water Authority under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has disclosed this after the tribunal took note of its failure to submit the report.The NGT had registered a suo motu case last year on the basis of a news report which claimed that “excessive nitrate levels were found in the groundwater of 440 districts across the country which was posing a health hazard, particularly to young children and is a source of environmental toxicity”. It stated that about 56 per cent of districts across the country have excessive nitrates.