TIME SERIES STUDY OF AIRBORNE PARTICULATE MATTER (PM10) IN KATHMANDU VALLEY, NEPAL

7th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2007, www.sgem.org, SGEM2007 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 11-15, 2007

ABSTRACT

Air pollution is a growing environmental problem in the major cities of the
world due to growing urbanization, motorization and industrialization,
Kathmandu valley is not exception. In the valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur and
Bhaktrapur cities), quantity of Particulate Matter (PM10) is higher than WHO
guideline (20 μg/m3 per year &50 μg/m3 per 24 hour). This paper presents four
years (2003-2006) monitoring and analysis of PM10 from 6 different stations
of Kathmandu valley as well as tried to correlate among PM10, rainfall and
temperature. Maximum monthly average PM10 is recorded as 253 μg/m3 in
February, 2003 and minimum average is 49μg/m3 in July, 2006 where as average
PM10 of Kathmandu valley in between 200 to 2006 is 128μg/m3 which reveals
the poor status of air quality. Furthermore, attempt has been made to correlate
among PM10, rainfall and temperature, and analysis shows negative correlation
(PM10 and rainfall r= -0.712; PM10 and Max. temperature r= -0.614; PM10
and Min. temperature r= -0.805).

Keywords: Air pollution, PM10, Kathmandu valley, Nepal