From 13 to 14 September 2018, a regional workshop was held in Dakar, Senegal, on ISO 30500 entitled “Non-collective sanitation systems – Prefabricated Integrated treatment units - General performance and safety requirements for design and testing”, as well as ISO 24521 “Practical Guidelines for the Management and Maintenance of Basic Domestic Wastewater Sanitation Systems”. The objective of this workshop was to present these ISO standards and to discuss ways for their implementation on the African continent.

Many stakeholders and organizations in the sanitation sector took part in this important meeting organized by the American Standardization Association (ANSI). AfWA was represented by the President of the Scientific and Technical Council, Dr. Papa Samba Diop, the Chairman of the Specialized Committee 3 (SC3), Dr. André Nguessan and the Coordinator of the RASOP Program (Capacity Building Program for African Peer Learning Partnership Operators), Professor Ives Kengne.

During that workshop, the Chairman of the STC 3 and the Coordinator of the RASOP-Africa Program made a joint presentation on the topic “AfWA’s Strategy for the Recognition and Implementation of ISO 30500 in Africa and the presentation of a program promoting the ISO 30500 standard: RASOP-AFRICA”. In his presentation, Dr. Nguessan outlined how AfWA could contribute to the dissemination of these standards, through its wide network of members covering the 5 major regions of Africa. He also mentioned that these standards could be spread during meetings of specialized committees at the STCs, congresses, partnership with other institutions (AMCOW in particular) and within the framework of developed programs. As for Professor Kengne, he explained how this standard could be publicized through the RASOP Africa, in particular the RASOP 2 currently being finalized, especially during the activities related to the adoption and development of training curricula, the organization of training on innovative approaches and technologies, the creation of a community of practice, etc. Furthermore, AfWA, with its experience in benchmarking, could also use this approach to bring those countries still lagging behind to adopt this standard.

As a reminder, ISO 24521 provides guidelines for the management of basic on-site domestic wastewater sanitation services, using appropriate technologies in their entirety at all levels of development. The ISO proposal to develop a standard to stimulate technological development and commercialization through the ISO 30500 standard is motivated by the absence of international standards on technologies dedicated to non-collective sanitation. This standard therefore aims at facilitating the development of non-sewer sanitation systems designed to meet basic sanitation needs and promote economic, social and environmental sustainability through strategies to reduce resources consumption (e.g. water, energy) and to convert human waste into safe outgoing products.