Created in 2010 by the World Plumbing Council (WPC), the second World Plumbing Day on 11 March 2011 has been hailed as a success writes Robert D Burgon, Chairman, World Plumbing Council.

All over the world, events took place on World Plumbing Day which aimed to spread the word that plumbing is an important industry. The resultant media coverage was wide and generally gave plumbing a more positive image than is often the case.

Having launched the first Day in Beijing, China on 11 March 2010, this year the WPC held a general meeting in Bangalore, India which was followed by a press conference and World Plumbing Day seminar which was addressed by prominent people from the Indian medical profession and a representative of the Water, Sanitation and Health Division of the World Health Organisation (WHO) from Geneva, Switzerland. This event really set the tone for the theme of World Plumbing Day which is ‘Plumbing – Vital to Global Health’ and it was encouraging to see the doctors making reference to Health Aspects of Plumbing, our joint publication with WHO.

The idea of World Plumbing Day is that organisations involved in plumbing arrange activities within their own countries and regions which aim to draw public and media attention to our industry. Some of the events which took place this year included:

Video message
A short video message explaining World Plumbing Day was recorded and placed on the special World Plumbing Day website and on other sites such as YouTube. This attracted a large number of views and was seen as a powerful way of promoting the message. Although 2000 views over a few weeks may not compare with those which film or pop stars receive, it was nevertheless encouraging to see so many people picking up on the video.

Schools presentations
Following a limited trial in 2010 of presentations to school children in the 7-10 years age group, a professional presentation was developed this year and made available to anyone in the industry who wished to go into their local schools to talk to children about water, health and plumbing. The children were invited to design posters to mark World Plumbing Day and cash prizes were offered for the best posters from across the world. Entries for this competition closed at the end of March but at the time of writing international entries had already been received from UK, USA, Canada and India. Details of the winners will be posted on the World Plumbing Day website (www.worldplumbingday.org).

Around the globe
Australia
All States and Territories across Australia made an impact in World Plumbing Day. While many centres held barbecues and breakfasts, there were some significant operations being conducted. In Perth, Western Australia a limited edition World Plumbing Day T-shirt was made available with a gold coin donation. All monies raised will be donated to the Lord Mayor’s Distress Relief Fund to go towards the Perth Hills Fire Appeal and the Gascoyne & Mid West Floods Appeal.

barbecue events in South Australia were launched with the intention to raise funds for two critical projects in Third World countries that do not have the same standard of safe drinking water or sanitation facilities as developed countries such as Australia.
These projects are:
• Safe Clean Drinking Water
People in Bangladesh source their drinking water from wells and bores, many of which are contaminated with naturally occurring ARSNIC, up to 37 times the safe level. The World Plumbing Day Committee is assisting by raising funds to identify contaminated wells, provide locally manufactured filtration systems and training to ensure safe clean drinking water.
• Training and tools for the future
In East Timor TAFE SA in conjunction with the government of South Australia provides basic training to young East Timorese in the building industry, this provides basic skills and knowledge to rebuild their communities, the World Plumbing Day Committee is raising funds to provide necessary toolkits for young people who complete the specific plumbing component of the training, giving them the ability to directly assist their communities.

For Queenslanders it was was more about some good cheer and recognition after their tireless work in returning the State back to normal; after severe flooding.

Canada
In a country where the first World Plumbing Day received minimal attention, this year the Canadian plumbing industry took the concept on board with huge enthusiasm and this resulted in widespread media coverage over several weeks leading up to 11 March. A motion passed in the Canadian Senate for nationwide campaigns to either hug your local plumber or wave at him or her. One enterprising contractor managed to get a prime time interview on television where he did an excellent job of raising the profile of the industry. Several city Mayors proclaimed the Day including the city of Calgary (the home base of WPC honorary secretary/ treasurer, Hans Tiedemann).

India
In addition to the WPC events in Bangalore, India (which attracted significant media coverage), each of the 12 Chapters of the Indian Plumbing Association organised World Plumbing Day events which meant that in many significant cities the message of World Plumbing Day was spread to a wide audience. Schools presentations were also made to large number of students. One Indian manufacturer, KiTEC Industries India, offered free health checks to people working in the plumbing industry and their families – a very generous and appropriate gesture for the Day.

As the celebrations in Bangalore were proceeding, news began to filter through about the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Events like this (just a few weeks after a smaller but nevertheless tragic occurrence in Christchurch, New Zealand), remind us all just how important water and sanitation are. One of the immediate needs in the aftermath of such events is to ensure that clean water supplies are available and that sanitation facilities are effective in order to minimise the spread of disease.

New Zealand
To mark World Plumbing Day, the industry training board for plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers has sent information about careers in the industry to all New Zealand secondary schools.

South Africa
Plumbing Africa Journal and the Institute of Plumbing of South Africa held an all day workshop on Compliance, National Standards and plumbing design for specifiers and installers to coincide with World Plumbing Day. At this event the Institute officially launched the ‘Proud Plumber’ campaign reinforcing the critical role plumbers have to play in water conservation and good plumbing practice.

Chris Burgess, president of IOPSA (Institute of Plumbing South Africa) attended the WPD Workshop at the Italian Club in Bedfordview.

“The workshop focused on various topics which are important to our industry such as compliance standards, hot water generation, risk assessment, role of the building inspector, water efficiency and the plumbing industry’s registration board,” Chris says.

According to Chris, World Plumbing Day is an especially important international event that must be commemorated and supported. “We are the custodians of the plumbing industry. We and consumers must be aware of the role IOPSA and this industry plays in society and the country as a whole.”

The plumbing sector in South Africa faces several enormous challenges in areas like plumber training, alignment of training centres, uplifting standards and consumer awareness of IOPSA.

“Some solutions we need to investigate could be the introduction of standard IOPSA agreements that would assist and protect both the plumbing contractor and the consumer and to get all the competent plumbers in the country qualified and registered with PIRB.”

In other areas of the country Free State and East London made strides in terms of contacting local radio stations and setting up interviews, while Gauteng ran a full day workshop on regulations, application of regulations, risk assessment and management of installations, the building inspectorate and their role. The Department of Water Affairs will end the session by reinforcing the role of plumbers and plumbing in water conservation. The session was interactive and speakers drawn from plumbing, national regulator, consulting engineer and a building control officer. Press packs were also sent out to some 100 media organisations.

USA
In addition to a motion welcoming the Day in the US Senate, USA members of the WPC undertook a range of activities which included many presentations of the schools powerpoint in several different states and the promotion of a widget about the Day which appeared on a large number of different websites.

This was only year two of the relatively simple idea of promoting our industry through its own special Day. There is absolutely no doubt that the idea is working and I am aware that some organisations have already begun their preparations for World Plumbing Day next year. There is, of course, absolutely no room for complacency. We are a long way away from the position where everyone everywhere appreciates the value of good plumbing systems and I hope that the worldwide plumbing industry will not tire of taking this opportunity, once a year, to remind people that plumbing is a significant industry of huge importance to public health and the environment.