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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on October 17, 2025, took note of the reply filed by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) on the presence of excess nitrate in groundwater across India.
CGWB in its reply on October 14, 2025, said 15,259 ground water monitoring locations were selected nationwide in 2023 to find out the nitrate contamination in groundwater. Approximately 19.8 per cent of water samples across India were found to have exceeded the permissible limits for nitrate contamination.
The CGWB counsel informed the court that a study was conducted and sought four weeks’ time to place the study report on record. The NGT granted the request and scheduled the next hearing for December 24, 2025.
The NGT registered the application suo motu on the basis of a news item titled Districts with excess nitrates in groundwater at seven year high that appeared in The Hindu on January 1, 2025.
It talked about the excessive nitrate levels found in the groundwater of 440 Indian districts according to the report by the CGWB. There has been an increase in the number of districts with excessive nitrates in groundwater, it added. The number rose from 359 districts in 2017 to 440 as of 2023.
The NGT on October 17, 2025, directed authorities to file their reply on the discharge of pharmaceutical effluents into a water body in Domadugu village. The village is located in the Gummadidala mandal of Telangana’s Sangareddy district.
The tribunal directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the district collector of Sangareddy and the Telangana State Pollution Control Board to file their reply on the matter. The case would be taken up before the southern zonal bench on December 3, 2025.
The tribunal registered the application suo motu on the basis of a news item titled Sangareddy: Villagers activists protest Pharma effluent discharge at Nalla Cheruvu that appeared in Telangana Today on September 24, 2025.
It talked about a protest held at Nalla Cheruvu in Domadugu village where residents and environmental activists demonstrated against the discharge of pharmaceutical effluents into the local water body.
According to the news item, pharmaceutical companies are releasing toxic effluents into the water body. It mentions that the residents demanded the government halt the release of effluents into the lake.
The NGT directed authorities on October 17, 2025, to file their reply on the matter of housing construction taking place on the floodplains of the Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura.
The court directed the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA); Mathura district magistrate; Uttar Pradesh’s department of irrigation and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to file a reply on the matter.
The applicant has questioned the housing project name “Mulberry Cabana” under progress in khasra 139, Mauza Arun Khadar, Sadar tehsil, Mathura district. The applicant said the construction is in violation of the EIA Notification, 2006 without obtaining environmental clearance from SEIAA.
The applicant added that construction is in progress in the floodplains of the Yamuna river. The counsel for the applicant has also drawn the attention of the court to the notice issued by Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development (YEIDA) to show that construction is in progress without any permission. Therefore, YEIDA had also issued a show cause notice.