The World Plumbing Council’s Research Database, originally launched in December of 2014, has now been operational for almost 2 years. For readers who may not be familiar with the database, it was created in order to provide users with the opportunity to learn about what is happening around the globe regarding research efforts pertaining to plumbing and water related issues.

The concept is to provide a resource to all interested parties, not only WPC members, but all who are interested in plumbing and water, to help learn about research efforts that have already been completed or which are currently in progress. The database also allows users to submit their ideas and recommendations towards new research programs that support advancing the body of knowledge along those same topical areas. WPC hopes to reduce duplication of research efforts and facilitate a new level of collaboration among researchers through the utilization of the database.

To date, the database has 107 registered users, which is about where the WPC thought we would be in terms of users at this point in time. However, utilization of the database has so far been disappointing. Only sixteen (16) research efforts have been uploaded to the database and most of those have been by direct request from the database developers. The WPC seeks to increase the utilization of the database in 2017 and we’re hoping that we can continue to count on you to help spread the word about the availability of the Research Database and how it can help to highlight advancements in the plumbing and water industries.

What can WPC members do to help improve utilization? Two things. To start, continue to discuss the database with peers and colleagues and point out the benefits that our industry can realize through increased utilisation. We as WPC members need to do a better job at directly reaching out to researchers from both academia and industry and ask them to upload their projects to the database. Whenever we, in the course of our daily activities, see an interesting research paper or become aware of an ongoing research project that’s applicable to the plumbing or water industries, make a point to personally reach out to the researchers, send them the link to the database and personally ask for their participation in support of the WPC. Secondly, we need to do a better job at utilising the database ourselves. Sign in occasionally, see what’s new. For each research project uploaded on the database, the submitter indicates if users of the database can contact them via email. So, if you have questions, comments or suggestions for the researchers, we encourage you to contact them. As an open source Wiki application, this is the best means by which utilization will expand. In short, the success of the database is up to us!

In closing, we are confident that increased utilization of the database will work to draw our plumbing and water communities closer, providing a means for increased collaboration and the identification of our industry’s future research needs. Those are the exact outcomes that the WPC envisions through the use of the Research Database.
The WPC Research Database is at http://research.worldplumbing.org/tiki-index.php

Note: If you experience any problems using the WPC database, please contact Pete DeMarco at pete.demarco@iapmo.org