Abstract
In Nepal, much emphasis has been given to the pollution of air, water, and solid waste both in terms of research and policymaking. Noise is an ignored pollutant, yet a growing public health concern in Kathmandu. This study is aimed at making an assessment of noise pollution in Kathmandu and study the effectiveness of the enforcement of noise standards and No Horn Regulation to control noise pollution. The study was conducted in 23 locations of four different zones (high traffic, low traffic, commercial, and residential) where 12 sites were considered for evaluating the effectiveness of No Horn Regulations. Noise level was studied at five different times of the day using a sound level meter to compute maximum, minimum, equivalent, and average noise level. This study concludes that (i) there is noise pollution problem in Kathmandu, (ii) No Horn Regulation is in place but it has not been strictly followed by the drivers and riders and monitored adequately by concerned authorities, and (iii) the regulation has been effective in reducing the noise level significantly. The average noise level of Kathmandu was recorded as 66.8 dB(A) with the highest noise level in High traffic zones, followed by commercial, low traffic, and residential zones. In 65.2% of the sampled sites, the noise level was beyond the permissible limit of WHO and National Sound Quality Standard of Nepal, 2012. Of the total honking events, 48.1% were against the provision of the No Horn Regulation. After the enforcement of the regulation, noise level was reduced significantly by 2.1 dB(A) in high traffic, low traffic, and residential zones. A comprehensive noise strategy with more emphasis on compliance monitoring and regular noise assessment should be formulated to address environmental noise as a major public health issue.
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Data availability
The data of this study will be available in the Mendeley repository (https://doi.org/10.17632/rxt33b7sn6.1).
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Department of Environmental Science, Amrit Campus, and Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University Nepal, for necessary infrastructural and equipment support to conduct this research. The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and suggestions to enhance the quality of this work.
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Raju Chauhan conceptualized and design the study. Material preparation and data collection were done by Dharmendra Khanal and Alina Shrestha, while analysis and interpretation were performed by Raju Chauhan. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Alina Shrestha and Dharmendra Khanal. Review, editing, and finalization of the manuscript were done by Raju Chauhan. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Chauhan, R., Shrestha, A. & Khanal, D. Noise pollution and effectiveness of policy interventions for its control in Kathmandu, Nepal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 35678–35689 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13236-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13236-7