KATHMANDU, Feb 7: The Kathmandu Valley witnessed slight improvement in the air quality index (AQI) on Sunday influenced by the first spell of rainfall of this winter that occurred on Saturday.
The AQI, according to the data collected from 17 pollution monitoring stations installed at different parts of the country’s capital, improved in the early morning after a long time. The fine particulate matter (Pm 2.5) reading docked around 50 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) between 12 and 6 AM . The cleanest air (35.89 μg/m³) was reported in the early morning (between 4 and 5)
Kathmandu’s air quality deteriorates despite first winter rain,...
The AQI, however, worsened as the day broke and measured the highest PM 2.5 reading of 153.39 μg/m³ in the morning between 8AM and 9 AM.
According to the World Health Organization, the AQI of 25μg/m³ is regarded as the healthy standard for humans while the Government of Nepal has prescribed a standard of 40 μg/m³.
