Air pollution rises in capital with onset of winter

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Dec. 5: Come winter and pollution in Kathmandu makes headlines. And this year is not an exception. 

Kathmandu has been experiencing unhealthy levels of air pollution since mid-November, with the trend continuing to worsen unless interrupted by strong winds or rainfall. Most air quality monitoring stations in the Kathmandu Valley have recorded AQI (PM2.5) levels exceeding 150, indicating air pollution that is unhealthy, particularly for children and the elderly.

Deepak Gyawali, Spokesperson for the Department of Environment, said that the onset of winter typically brings an increase in various sources of pollution. “Pollution sources rise, including the burning of agricultural residue, emissions from brick kilns, and the transformation of muddy, slippery roads during the rainy season into dusty ones in the dry season. Likewise, the burning of waste and firewood to combat the winter cold, combined with the lack of rainfall, exacerbates pollution during the winter months,” Gyawali explained.

Issuing a call to combat pollution, the Department has urged efforts to prevent and reduce pollution by addressing sources such as smoke emitted from industries and vehicles, forest fires, open burning of waste and agricultural residues, smoke from households and dust from roads and construction activities.

The department said, “Air pollution negatively impacts human health, particularly affecting children, the elderly, individuals with respiratory and heart conditions, and pregnant women. Therefore, everyone is urged to take special precautions during this time.”

The department has called for concrete actions to control and reduce air pollution, including refraining from burning solid waste, plastics and agricultural residues. It also appealed for regular maintenance of vehicles, use of clean energy in industries, factories, and kitchens, and proper management of dust and smoke from roads and construction activities.

Gyawali stressed that the Department of Environment is not the sole entity responsible for combating air pollution, as various other agencies also play critical roles in addressing the issue. “For example, if road construction increases dust levels, the concerned agency should minimise dust pollution by using water. 

 Similarly, if vehicles are emitting excessive smoke and there is a need to bring them to the given standard, another agency is responsible for addressing that issue and yet another agency is tasked with controlling industrial pollution. Everyone must work collaboratively to tackle the rising pollution levels,” he explained.

“The Department monitors industries annually, but we are not responsible for taking direct action, rather, we advise them to make corrections,” Gyawali said. In the last fiscal year alone, the Department monitored 126 industries, and almost all were found to exceed the prescribed standards. 

“This year, we plan to monitor 200 industries. If we find them polluting, we instruct them to stop, and if they fail to comply, we refer the matter to the concerned authorities for further action,” he added. The local level should also work actively to stop waste burning, which is another source of air pollution during winter, he added.

Meanwhile, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) issued a press release on Monday saying millions of people across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF) continue to breathe hazardous air, with recent atmospheric concentrations of PM2.5. 

PM2.5. is the finest and most dangerous particulate matter that measures less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, reported to be as high as 20 times the WHO’s recommended daily limit, the statement said. 

With major cities across the region, including Multan, Lahore, New Delhi, Kolkata and Dhaka seeing elevated levels of smoke, fog, particulate matter and other air pollutants, researchers at Regional Intergovernmental Knowledge Centre, the ICIMOD, are developing a suite of visualisation tools that give users an option for seeing historical and forecasted trends in local, sub-regional and regional air pollution levels, said the press statement.

Using a combination of real-time data captured from ground sensors and satellite imagery, these visualisation tools are hosted on ICIMOD’s Air Quality Dashboard, which is open to the public for use, it said.

Using one such tool, which uses data generated from the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), the team has been able to show daily PM2.5 levels across the IGP during the first three weeks of November.