In a latest finding which may not surprise many, Kathmandu has been ranked the third most polluted city in the world.

According to Pollution Index 2016 published by Serbia-based research website Numbeo.com, Nepal’s capital city sits third with the index of 96.66. Kathmandu, which had occupied the fifth position on the index at the beginning of 2015, slipped two places to third in the middle of last year.

The rankings are based on visitors’ perceptions to the website and include some relevant data from the World Health Organisation and other institutions, Numbeo.com said. The index is an estimation of the overall pollution in the city with the biggest weight given to air and water pollution.

The poor reading has only confirmed a 2014 report of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, showing Kathmandu air contains 400 micrograms of particulate matter up to 10 micrometres in size per cubic metre or the PM10 is 400µg/m3—over three-fold the permissible limits. The maximum limit set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM10 is 120µg/m3. 

Another report published in 2014 by Clean Energy Nepal showed city’s air contains 260 micrograms of particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in size per cubic metre or the PM2.5 is 260µg/m3 against maximum limit of 40µg/m3. The air quality samples for both results were taken from Putali Sadak.

The city’s water is not doing any better. According to a research conducted last October by Bagmati Civilisation Integrated Development Committee, water in Bagmati River at Minbhawan contains 0.53 milligrams of dissolved oxygen per litre or the DO is 0.53mg/l. No aquatic animal can survive in water with less than 3mg/l. Likewise, chemical oxygen demand of water (total measurement of all chemicals in the water that can be oxidised) at the same place was 128.44mg/l and biochemical oxygen demand (the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms) was 68.3mg/l. The effluent standard for industries for both COD and BOD is less than 30mg/l.

The ignominious title of the most polluted city went to Tetovo city of Macedonia, followed by Egyptian capital Cairo. Philippines’ capital Manila, Noida and Delhi of India, Guangzhou of China, Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam and Egypt’s Alexandria 

complete the list of the 10 most polluted cities. Nepal sits in the 17th place on the Pollution Index for Country 2016, with Egypt being the world’s most polluted country.