KATHMANDU, Jan 24: Air quality in Kathmandu continued to deteriorate on Sunday as well.
Data collected from 17 different pollution monitoring stations installed at various places in the country’s capital shows that dust particles in Kathmandu’s air have exceeded the standard of PM 2.5 reading of 25 μg/m³ set by the World Health Organization (WHO) by 158.94 μg/m³. The Government of Nepal, on the other hand, has prescribed the threshold of 40 μg/m³, which, however, is also almost unachievable at least for now as Kathmandu’s air quality has already worsened due to huge traffic, unmanaged urbanization and industrialization.
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The Urban Health Initiative (UHI), a program initiated by the WHO, has identified four primary sources of air pollution worldwide --- solid waste, transport, industry/brick kilns and household energy sectors.
The highest PM 2.5 reading on Sunday was measured at 183.94 μg/m³ in the morning (between 9 and 10), the time when most offices and businesses commence. The lowest reading was recorded at 75 μg/m³ between 4 and 5 in the afternoon.
