Kathmandu is Dustmandu. Air pollution might make it the next Delhi unless we act!

What happened, Kathmandu? Why does our city feel more like Delhi with every passing day. Honestly, I believe that Kathmandu is still the best city to live and raise a family in all of South Asia. But we need to talk.

I built a chrome extension that replaces Kathmandu with Dustmandu across the internet. It’s free. Install it now. (Yes, it’s available at Dustmandu.com)

This air pollution is not normal.

When I fly into and out of Kathmandu, the air pollution crisis is clear as day. It’s right in front of you, hovering over the skies above Kathmandu and much of Nepal. It looks quite a bit like Delhi. Thick gray layer of toxic pollutants in our air. You know when you take off from Tribhuvan International Airport and the flight swoops around to go out of the Valley, you look down at the city but your view is blurred by pollutants in the air.

That’s not normal.

Or even if you look at the Kathmandu valley from Swayambhu, you’ll notice the poor visibility caused by the pollution. It’s troubling. The city of temples is drowning in dhulo. Sometimes you can even see a distinct layer of haze at the horizon.

And to state the obvious — all of us eat dhulo all day long. Someone on twitter said: “we eat dhulo for breakfast” and that’s so true! Although’s it’s also our lunch, tea snack and dinner.

Air pollution is not normal. We need to talk about it.

What’s causing air pollution in Kathmandu?

1. Yes, there’s no doubt that the Melamchi water pipes are wrecking havoc in Kathmandu’s streets and stirring up a lot of dust. But that’s only a part of the problem.
2. Brick kilns. This is a huge source of air pollution. It’s polluting our air. Bigly. Have you been to Bhaktapur or Nagarkot lately? The roads are dotted with brick kilns huffing and puffing smoke and toxic particles into the air all day every day.
3. The government’s failure to regulate commercial vehicles in Kathmandu. Some example: those blue Mahindra trucks that haul bricks, Sajha Yatayat, Nepal Yatayat, Kantipur Yatayat and other buses, and even hospital vans, are some of the most violent offenders. They spew toxic black smoke day long. Besides the black smoke, they’re high in concentrations of Nitrogen Dioxides, which wreckes havoc to your health. Are there any emissions standards in Kathmandu for commercial vehicles? Are they enforced?
4. Insatiable appetite for cars. I don’t fault people for climbing the socioeconomic ladder and upgrade from a bicycle to a bike and a car.
5. Burning trash in homes, grocery shores, houses, and pretty much everywhere else.
6. There’s nothing green in this city anymore (except tundikhel). Construction has consumed all the gardens (or vacant plots). I remember the days until 10 years ago when most of Kathmandu was within the Ring Road. Today it extends well into the hills. Growing up in Kathmandu we used to play cricket and soccer in the unbuilt plots of land across Kathmandu. Those have inevitably been replaced with residential buildings.
7. Even the former Royal Palace compound burns a tremendous amount of trash regularly.

There is hope!

Despite being a poor country, we’ve shown that we can tackle the tough issues. Honking in Kathmandu in banned, and (almost) everyone is really good at obeying that. We were the first country in Asia to promote transgender rights. We have taken major steps to clamp down on child trafficking, especially after the earthquake. And now we’re tackling jay walking across the city. These are all encouraging

How to solve air pollution?

Reduce emissions. That’s it. There’s no other way. Don’t let anyone tell you any different. Outdoor air puffers don’t work. Praying (especially havans) don’t help.

Who will solve air pollution?

Khoi? It’s up to you. It’s unlikely to be a top-down solution from the government. Air pollution is often perceived as a “first world problem” — as in, only upper class people can afford to think about it. There’s definitely a lot of truth to that.

By the way, your facemasks suck!

The face masks you are wearing are worthless. Those pieces of cloth and surgical masks only prevent the large dust particles from entering your body. And it’s redundant because your nose and lungs have natural protection against it. However — the tinier particles in the particles fly through your face mask, enter deep into your lungs and cause a long list of health effects. The only benefit is largely a placebo.

How bad is the air pollution in Kathmandu?

You can find out easily with a tweet like this: #airairair Kathmandu

You’ll Kathmandu’s real-time air quality report within seconds.

Right now, the air quality is moderate which is not bad.