Nepal is a landlocked country located between world's two most populous countries-India and China where high
level of organochlorines pesticides has been reported from multi-environmental matrices. In this study, we investigated
the occurrence, distributions and profile of selected OCP chemicals in surface soil samples (N = 72)
from four major cities of Nepal. Overall, the sum of total OCPs in soil ranged from 20 to 250 ng/g with Biratnagar
being the most polluted site in Nepal. DDTs and endosulfans were the most abundant OCP chemicals in soil samples.
The concentration of DDTs ranged from 8 to 230 ng/g, 8-56 ng/g, 8-63 ng/g, and 8-27 ng/g in surface soil,
while endosulfans were in the range of 2.9–3.3 ng/g, 2.8–8.7 ng/g, 2.8–3.4 ng/g, 2.8–3.2 ng/g in Biratnagar, Kathmandu,
Pokhara and Birgunj, respectively. The isomeric ratio of DDT and their metabolites suggested the ongoing
usages of technical DDT as well as dicofol in this region. Lower ratio of α/β-endosulfan indicated past application
of endosulfans in Nepal. HCHs were less detected OCPs in soil sample accounting only 4–9% of ∑OCPs. The isomeric
ratio of α-/γ-HCH indicated that the HCHs may be originated from mixed source of technical HCH as well
as lindane use. Scattered plot of TOC and BC showed they were weakly and positively related with concentration
of OCPs in soil. Health risk assessment modeling study of OCPs in soil suggested moderate cancer risk with ingestion
being the most potential pathway of OCPs exposure.