ABSTRACT: Monitoring nitrates in groundwater and surface water is a major necessity to comply with EU Nitrate and Water framework directives. Information on nitrate spatial distribution over time is important for best management practice in active agriculture zones, and this also forms the main basis for Slovakia’s reporting obligation to the European Commission. Available data throughout Slovakia from 2004 to 2014 was evaluated; with the result that nitrate concentrations over 50 mg/L are mostly present in agriculture active zones in Southern Slovakia; including the Nitra river basin and its surrounds and lower areas of the Hron, Ipeľ and Bodrog rivers. We determined a dominant decreasing trend in Slovak nitrate concentrations over this evaluation period.