Three records of the same water, on one map. Shaded squares are the main rivers as a global model sees them. Circles are what scientists measured, wherever they looked. Squares with a black edge are what the state's own published record shows. A red ring means the highest value exceeds India's drinking-water limit (IS 10500), the yardstick the state itself uses. Wells and groundwater appear only at district level. Most of the map is empty because most of India's water has never been measured.
Data. Modelled rivers: Maggi, F., Tang, F. H. M. and Tubiello, F. N. 2023, Nature 620: 1013–1017 (doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06296-x); figshare 10.6084/m9.figshare.20452791, CC BY 4.0; total of 92 pesticides, mean of the final simulated year at 2015 application rates; the authors report the model underestimates measured concentrations. Measured points: peer-reviewed studies listed on each card, each read in the original paper or its official abstract ([V]). Values available only through review tables were removed on 17 October 2026. State record: Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3585 (20 December 2021), Annexure I, and the Central Pollution Control Board's report to the National Green Tribunal in OA 676/2023. Limits: IS 10500:2012, Table 5; India sets no ambient river standard for pesticides, so river values are compared with the drinking-water yardstick the ministry itself cites. Held back pending full-text checks: a West Bengal malathion value of 9,330 µg/L, a Sabarmati value of 392.71 µg/L and several lake and fish values with implausible units. Groundwater points are shown at district level so that no well, farm or village can be read as an offender. Research synthesis: Tailenders Analytics, 16 October 2026. Outlines: India on its official outline (DataMeet); boundaries do not imply any judgment on the legal status of any territory.