ISO sanitation workshop

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that 2.3 billion people around the world have no access to safe, clean toilets, and where there are sanitation facilities, the waste is often not safely managed. The cost of lives is enormous, contributing to an estimated 280 000 deaths every year, not to mention the detrimental impact on people’s well-being and the environment.

News from ISO…

New technologies such as community-scaled faecal sludge treatment units, which essentially treat the waste at a community level even where there are no suitable wastewater treatment systems in place, are emerging to address this, providing a lifeline for many. Yet in order for this new technology to take off, internationally agreed guidelines are required.

As a first step, a new ISO International Workshop Agreement (IWA) has just been published, developed in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and led by ANSI, ISO’s member for the USA.

IWA 28, Faecal sludge treatment units – Energy independent, prefabricated, community-scale resource-recovery units – Safety and performance, will help to facilitate the commercialization and expansion of such treatment units into the market, making them safer and more accessible to those who need them.

At the same time, a new ISO project committee – ISO/PC 318, Community scale resource oriented sanitation treatment systems – has just been formed. Bringing together international experts, it will build on the information and expertise gathered to develop IWA 28, a major step to help realize the potential of such technologies and, ultimately, save lives.

Raymond Lee, Chair of the workshop that created IWA 28, said the committee would draw on the more than 130 experts from 27 countries involved in its development to turn the IWA into a much needed International Standard.

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle