In recognition of the importance of non-sewered sanitation system standards, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) participated in the 21st African Water Association International Congress & Exhibition and 7th International Fecal Sludge Management Conference held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on February 19-23, 2023.
ANSI, with its partners Association Senegalaise de Normalization (ASN) and TÜV SÜD, hosted a joint technical session on February 22, 2023, titled, “Transferring innovative sanitation technologies to implementation/adoption through standards and certification.” Forty-seven delegates attended the session, which was part of a comprehensive water and sanitation program during the four-day conference.
The session included presentations as well as a panel with invited guests, and promoted non-sewered sanitation system standards, particularly ISO 30500, Non-sewered sanitation systems - Prefabricated integrated treatment units - General safety and performance requirements for design and testing.
Presenters from ANSI, ASN, and TÜV SÜD addressed the current landscape of the non-sewered sanitation sector, implemented technologies, potential barriers, the adoption of international standards, and the use of standards to develop better public policies and regulations.
Over the past six years, ANSI has supported the national adoption of ISO 30500 in Africa and Asia with in-person and virtual workshops in collaboration with national standards bodies, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) stakeholders, and regional standards bodies such as ARSO and ECOWAS. ANSI’s direct outreach has resulted in the national adoption of ISO 30500 in more than 20 countries. ANSI continues to maintain relationships in target regions to support adoption and implementation of ISO 30500 and ISO 24521.
During the session, TÜV SÜD also launched the much-anticipated Sanitation Readiness Index tool, a platform designed to help manufacturers of ISO 30500-compliant technologies assess their systems' readiness for ISO 30500 certification.
On the panel, ANSI’s Leslie McDermott was joined by Ibra Sow, president, APAA- Senegal; Kouame André N‘Guessan, deputy director, planning and fundraising, ONAD- Cote d’Ivoire; Marianela Cardelle project engineer, TÜV SÜD- Singapore; and El hadji Abdourahmane Ndione, director general, ASN - Senegal. The discussion focused on private sector, national, and governmental action needed to integrate and implement non-sewered sanitation and ISO 30500-compliant products.
Learn more about ANSI’s work with sanitation standards at https://sanitation.ansi.org/.