What is ISO 30500-Non-sewered sanitation systems about?
ISO 30500 discusses non-sewered sanitation systems. In March 2013, the United Nations (UN) issued a global call to action to eliminate the practice of open defecation by 2025. The UN and regional sanitation leaders have concluded that areas where open defecation is common to have the highest levels of child death and disease, as a result of ingesting human faecal matter that has entered the food or water supply.
A lack of safe, private sanitation is also associated with the highest overall levels of malnutrition, poverty, and the disparity between rich and poor, and makes women and girls more vulnerable to violence. In this context, the purpose of ISO 30500 is to support the development of stand-alone sanitation systems designed to address basic sanitation needs and promote economic, social, and environmental sustainability through strategies that include minimizing resource consumption (e.g., water, energy) and converting human excreta to safe output.
ISO 30500 is intended to promote the implementation of sanitation systems where increased sustainability is desired, or where traditional sanitary sewer systems are unavailable or impractical, and thus, to ensure human health and safety as well as protection of the environment.
Note: However, ISO 30500 does not attempt to exhaustively address sustainability concerns with respect to non-sewered sanitation systems (NSSS). There are many aspects to sustainability that are not covered in ISO 30500.
Who is ISO 30500-Non-sewered sanitation systems for?
ISO 30500 on non-sewered sanitation systems (prefabricated integrated treatment units) is useful for:
- Government agencies
- Health and safety bodies
- Non-government organizations
- Sanitaryware manufacturers
Why should you use ISO 30500-Non-sewered sanitation systems?
It is estimated that 2,3 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation systems. The devastating consequences of the lack of sanitation facilities include an estimated 1,8 billion people globally using a source of drinking water that is faecally contaminated and 361 000 children under 5 years of age dying per year, primarily from dysentery-like diarrhoeal diseases.
ISO 30500 provides general safety and performance requirements for design and testing as well as sustainability considerations for non-sewered sanitation systems (NSSS). A NSSS, for the purposes of this document, is a prefabricated integrated treatment unit, comprising frontend (toilet facility) and backend (treatment facility) components that:
- Collects, conveys, and fully treats the specific input within the system, to allow for safe reuse or disposal of the generated solid, liquid, and gaseous output, and
- Is not connected to a networked sewer or networked drainage systems
ISO 30500 is applicable to sanitation systems that are either manufactured as one package or manufactured as a set of prefabricated elements designed to be assembled in one location without further fabrication or modification that influences the system’s function.
ISO 30500 defines the basic treatable input as primarily human excreta and gives options for extending the range of input substances. Requirements for the quality of the outputs from the sanitation system are given for solid and liquid discharges as well as odour, air, and noise emissions. It contains criteria for the safety, functionality, usability, reliability, and maintainability of the system, as well as its compatibility with environmental protection goals.
ISO 30500 contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 on ensuring access to water and sanitation for all. The SDGs are a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of the new UN sustainable development agenda.