International Emerging Technology Symposium
Industry representatives from across the globe were in Chicago for the event with the number and quality of delegates exceeding the organisers’ expectations.
Russ Chaney, WPC Board member and Executive Director of IAPMO commented, “Our hopes and goals in approaching this symposium were to bring together the best and brightest minds in the plumbing industry, the experts in environmentally-conscious plumbing system design installation and maintenance. But the level of determination and committed involvement we received from this top echelon of the industry was truly remarkable.”
Keynote speaker Stephen L Johnson, administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency spoke about the importance of the symposium when he said, “As I look at it, it’s one thing for policy makers in Washington DC to talk about the challenges of water quantity and water quality. It’s a whole different thing to have the leaders of both manufacturers and the actual installers taking hold and wanting to commit to these new technologies – new technologies that are good for the consumer, good for the environment and good for our economy.”
Kamal Khokhani from India, in his presentation to the symposium, looked at the past for a lesson in the importance of high plumbing standards. He pointed out similarities with the 1933 World Fair, also in Chicago, when the theme was Technological Innovation. Coincidentally, he said, an outbreak of amoebic dysentery in the city at that time, and which sadly claimed the lives of 98 people, was found to be caused by bad plumbing.
Mr Khokhani went on to quote a statement from the then Chief Inspector of the city’s Bureau of Engineering: “One of the lessons to be drawn from this amoebic dysentery outbreak is that plumbing demands the very best and painstaking efforts, that thoroughly qualified and certified plumbers are needed in every building and especially where the systems are complicated and extensive and where large numbers of people may be contaminated by water.”
A major feature of the Emerging Technology Symposium was a “Clipboard event” where delegates were formed into discussion groups to talk with relevant manufacturers about various aspects of plumbing and energy. Subjects ranged from composting toilets to air admittance valves and pipe corrosion to food waste disposal, all with an eye on the latest technology.
Kamal Khokhani summed up the success of the whole symposium when he commented, “It was a great start towards a global movement for using better technology to save both humanity and our planet!”