IWA 24:2016 specifies technical requirements, test methods, and sustainability considerations for non-sewered sanitation systems. A non-sewered sanitation system, for the purposes of this document, is a sanitation system that 1) is not connected to a networked sewer system and 2) collects, conveys, and fully treats the specific input, to allow for safe reuse or disposal of the generated output.

IWA 24:2016 is applicable to sanitation systems containing both frontend and backend components that are either manufactured as one package or designed to be integrated as a set of pre-fabricated elements to be assembled in one location without the use of any additional engineering and/or civil engineering structures. This document also applies to individual pre-fabricated backend components that are designed to be integrated with one or more specified frontends that meet relevant national and/or international standards without demanding any additional engineering and/or civil engineering structures. This document is not applicable to sanitation systems constructed in-situ.

NOTE Assembly without the use of any additional engineering and/or civil engineering structures means that pre-fabricated components of non-sewered sanitation systems within the scope of this document do not require further construction in order to be integrated into complete sanitation systems that can perform all of their specified operations.

IWA 24:2016 is applicable to sanitation systems that perform their treatment processes in one location through one or more treatment units comprising the backend of the sanitation system. This document does not address transportation of treated output outside of the sanitation system (e.g. manual transport, transportation by truck or trunk pipes) for further treatment, reuse, or disposal. Furthermore, neither any treatment processes taking place at another location separate from that of the frontend and backend components, nor reuse and disposal are addressed in this document.