The 11th World Plumbing Committee Conference is set to be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 14-16 September 2016.

The Institute of Plumbing South Africa (IOPSA) won the bid to host the event at the WPC Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2011. The event will be held at the Cape Town International Conference centre where the theme will be ‘Regulations for Sustainable Plumbing’ – a case for International Standards, with the platforms being: Water, Environment, Energy and Health.

Institute of Plumbing South Africa (IOPSA) vice-president Lee Goldie said IOPSA received a late invitation from the World Plumbing Council to bid for the World Plumbing Conference (WPC) in 2016 and that the team worked tirelessly to ensure that the conference would head to Africa. South Africa was pitted against Melbourne, which has won the rights to host the event in 2019.

IOPSA plans to change the format of the WPC in 2016.

“We want to attract challenge-driven industry professionals to the conference. We aim to provide them with tangible solutions to meet the challenges of sanitation, plumbing, water safety, training and skills upliftment,” said Lee.

More than 650 delegates are expected to attend the conference. It will be a meeting place where African delegates can interact with the World Plumbing Council.

A major theme of WPC 2016 is ‘Water for Africa’ whereby the issues surrounding the provision of water in Africa will be spotlighted. It is no secret that unsafe drinking water and waterborne diseases are the cause of death for many in Africa and with such a gathering of knowledge, the conference will aim to focus on delivering solutions that work towards eradicating these problems.

It will also address the plumbing role in ensuring, through regulation, that the four pillars in which plumbing operates, namely, Water, Sanitation, Environment and Energy, are never compromised on the altar of greed and non-compliance.

Each country has its own set of regulations as does each local authority in terms of by-laws that suit the environment but WPC 2016 believes that with an understanding of regulations that are referred to using international standards as a start, will ensure a firm basis for regulations in any application and in any country.

The fact that the world plumbing industry will discuss this through a variety of keynote addresses and breakaway session means that all governments, official bodies, governmental organisations, training colleges, property owners, architects, quantity surveyors, engineers plumbing system designers and plumbers will have a universal base from which to operate from.

WPC 2016 is a conference to present outcomes that will take delegates to points where they can and will influence others, be they in government or private sector. Work groups will be formed to take the world of plumbing into the legislators and communities.

Concurrent with the conference will be an International exhibition showcasing the local and international products and services. In keeping with the theme all products on display need to carry, for South African companies, the SABS mark/JASWIC acceptance, and outside companies the recognized standard applicable to their countries.

The South African National Plumbing Skills Competition will be held during this period and the winner will represent SA at the International World Skills competition in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

To register your interest in attending this event, head over to www.wpc2016.co.za and fill in the registration form.