A big majority of people in Delhi believe that the overall environment in the national capital has deteriorated in the last five years, a fresh survey by The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) revealed.

TERI interviewed 1,114 people in Delhi NCR for the Environmental Survey 2013, and found a whopping 80 per cent of respondents saying that they believed that the city's overall environment has deteriorated in the past 5-year period.

However, 39 per cent of respondents said they believed that quality of air has actually improved, while 41 per cent said the availability and quality of drinking water improved in the last 5-year period.

Of the 94 per cent of respondents, who said that water is being wasted in the city, 58 per cent blamed excessive consumption, while 49 per cent blamed leakages for the problem.

Forty-five of respondents held the transport sector most responsible for poor quality of air; industries and garbage burning were put at the second and third biggest causes of air pollution.

TERI Director General Dr R K Pachauri said, "Our purpose is to see that issues related to environment and development get embedded in the consciousness of the people."

An overwhelming number of Kolkatans also believe that the quality of the city's overall environment has declined as the city's green cover is on the decline and water bodies are become more and more polluted.