The World Plumbing Council (WPC) recently concluded its 9th Triennial Conference, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Conference host the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers Federation (SNIPEF) reports that 363 registered delegates and companions attended.

The WPC held its business meeting on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 with a full agenda addressing issues including the WPC’s ongoing relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), continued support of the World Skills Plumbing Competition and a new agreement to be signed on 2 October with the World Green Building Council.

Also occurring during the business meeting was the selection of Cape Town, South Africa, as the location for the 11th World Plumbing Council Triennial Conference in September 2016, with the Institute of Plumbing South Africa serving as host. In 1999, the nation previously hosted WPC’s 5th Triennial Conference in Sun City.

The business meeting concluded with the election of the 2011-13 WPC Executive Board. GP Russ Chaney, CEO of The IAPMO Group, United States, is the new chairman and Sudhakaran Nair, Indian Plumbing Association (IPA), India, is the deputy chairman.

Hans Tiedemann, Mechanical Contractors Association of Alberta, Canada, remains as Honorary Secretary/Treasurer. Serving another term on the Executive Board are Hua Mingjiu, Plumbing Facilities Committee of China Construction Metal Structure Association, China, and Richard J. Prospal, American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE), United States. Newly elected to the board are Elmar Esser, Zentralverband Sanitar Heizung Klima, Germany, and Shayne La Combre, Plumbing Industry Commission, Victoria, Australia.

The conference featured two full days of highly informative presentations by experts from around the world representing such nations as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Germany and Denmark. Each is available on the WPC Website under the menu item “Events” and “9th World Plumbing Conference.”
(http://www.worldplumbing.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43&Itemid=43&lang=en)

“This year’s conference was one of the best I’ve attended,” Chaney said. “Immediate Past Chairman Robert Burgon (CEO of SNIPEF) his staff and volunteer members did a fantastic job with the administration of the event and the organizing of extremely high-level speakers at a superb venue. Considering the world’s tenuous economic conditions, attendance pleasantly exceeded expectations.”

Past WPC Secretary Andy Watts, MBE, received the Distinguished Service Award, the WPC’s highest honour — only the third recipient of the award since the WPC was founded in 1990. Watts served 12 consecutive years on the Executive Board and was the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering (as it is now known) for 35 years prior to his retirement in 2006.

The WPC’s next major conference will occur in November 2013, New Delhi, India, hosted by the Indian Plumbing Association.