Pollution Hazard At Your Doorstep
(Published in The Kathmandu Post, Ma6 , 2016)
Sandhya Regmi
sandhyaregmi2000@gmail.com
Environmental-pollution-induced
health hazards in Kathmandu are only getting uglier. Kathmanduties are facing ever-bulging
health issues due to continued attack from all the three fonts: air, noise, and
water pollutions.
Recently,
Kathmandu was tagged as the world’s third most polluted city-slipping down two
places from its 2015 position, as reported in the Kathmandu Post. This tag is
consistent with the Clean Energy Nepal’s 2014 report. It revealed that the
city’s aerosol in core urban places like Putalisadak, during the rush hours in dry
season, carries PM2.5 as high as 260µg/m3, which is over 10 times the WHO’s set
limit of 25µg/m3. PM2.5 is the particulate matter suspended in the air that are
smaller than 2.5 micron, which is small enough to enter our lung while
breathing.
Health
issues created by unhygienic drinking water that the city’s residence have been
compelled to use over the decade has the story of its right. Less talked about but equally dangerous devil
damaging our health is the noise pollution.
The
major culprits behind the air and noise pollution in the city are the vehicles
and the diesel power generators, both of them have been growing exponentially. Vehicles
count has multiplied over threefold within a decade—according to the data from
Department of Transport Management—in Bagmati Zone, which accounts for 45% of
the total vehicles registered in the whole country.
Thanks
to the persistent load shedding induced by the state’s reckless energy policy, the
valley is facing threat from another,
otherwise avoidable, major culprit—diesel power generator. To make the matter worse,
the generator is more active during the dry season, when the load shedding hits
18 hours a day, synergizing the pollution effect. According to a study by Clean
Air Network Nepal, 59% of the total
diesel volume sold in the city—during the fiscal year 2011/2012—were consumed
by the generators alone. Over the past four years since that study, use of the
generators have likely multiplied. For, around
my own neighborhood alone, the generators population has consistently been
growing.
These
pollutions are directly linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases,
damaging our health and threatening our lives. A WHO study in 2009 estimated
1,926 cases of premature deaths annually. Clean Energy Nepal reported in 2014
that the number of hospitalized Chronic-Obstructive-Pulmonary-Disease (COPD)
patients is highest during the dry season, when air pollution is at its peak.
The
other day, I, myself landed in the ICU bed of Om Hospital & Research Centre
in Chabahil. There I found myself with my arms tangled in four types of drips
with the nurses continuously monitoring the data from all the four sides for
BP, heart rate, temperature, and oxygen flow to my lung. I had to be
hospitalized to treat against the extreme flare-up of my bronchial asthma, as a
direct consequence of the worsening pollution in the Kathmandu valley.
Like
any other Kathmanduties, I too am a direct victim of air pollution, water
pollution, and noise pollution. Ironically, my physical suffering is compounded
by mental anguish that springs from my underlying training and consciousness on
environmental matters.
When
I returned to my homeland with specialization in Environmental Engineering from
National University of Singapore and after conducting research in Clean Energy
from the University of Tokyo, I had a dream to contribute to the sustainable
development of this beautiful Himalayan nation, restoring and preserving its
green, and pollution-free environment. I knew we had to walk miles and that it
takes more than individual initiative to materialize this beautiful dream. I
had, and still have, the determination to contribute my share to that end. But
little did I know the harsh reality that I have to face the environmental pollution
at my own doorsteps.
From
one side, we are tortured by Amol Cyber’s generators in Dhobighat, which
operate non-stop during the load shedding hours, producing loud noise and emitting
poisonous fumes—of black carbon and carbon monoxide—facing directly to our garden.
The little piece of garden where we could breathe morning’s fresh air has turned
into a chamber of poisonous gas and irritating noise. Victimized by this pollution, my octogenarian
bed-ridden parents have become patients of bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, hyper
tension, depression, insomnia and loss of hearing. Besides I am worried about
fire or explosion that may erupt anytime due to lapse of safety standard in
operating that generator.
And
from the other side, we are continuously distressed by Dhobighat’s ‘Mirror Club
and Lounge’ that runs disco every night, from 11pm till 4am. Its unfettered
loud noise during the prime sleeping time flouts any rational standard,
depriving the neighborhood of sound sleep, and of the right to live peacefully
in own house.
My
attempts to fight with these polluters have remained futile. The Amol Cyber owner
refuses to believe that using silencer and providing chimney to the generators
is his duty. The issue with the ‘Mirror’ is more complicated. Many in the
neighborhood are scared even to raise this noise pollution issue. Attempts by neighborhood police box to
regulate the pub has failed. The bar’s illegal activities are being protected
by some invisible powers associated with the state authorities.
Do I
have the right to breath in clean air, and to live in pollution-free
environment in my own home? On paper, yes. Nepal’s Constitution has enshrined
this as a fundamental right of its citizens. It even promises to punish a
polluter and require to compensate its victims. So, unless I am living in the failed
state, it has the constitutional duty to ensure that right and to punish the
polluter. Considering the state’s continued assertion that it is functional, I
should not be facing any problem in exercising the basic right to breath clean
air and to live in peaceful environment.
If
the state has not failed in discharging its constitutional duties or is
colluding with the polluters, then owes me an answer. When will the state
arrive in my locality to regulate the polluters, and how long do I need to
continue to live in such suffocating environment?
(The Author is an Environmental Engineer)
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2016-05-15/pollution-at-your-doorstep.html
