Plumbing the depths of problems in water conservation and its reuse will be the key focus at the 25th Indian Plumbing Conference & Exhibition (IPCE) of the Indian Plumbing Association (IPA) in this Rs 33,000 crore industry that is growing at 15% per annum alongside providing employment to around 8 lakh people.

The three day event — beginning Oct 26 in Mumbai and also celebrating IPA’s Silver Jubilee — is expected to witness participation of Plumbing bodies from Australia, Japan and the USA. It will also feature the finals of another interesting event – Indian Plumbing Professionals League’ (IPPL) – that traversed 16 Indian cities and included 900 participants in five levels of quiz competitions, alongside creating awareness and knowledge about Plumbing Standards & Codes, products, techniques and installation practices.

The IPA also released A Guide to GOOD PLUMBING PRACTICES in seven languages while announcing the IPCE event here today.

Gurmit Singh Arora, National President, IPA, also highlighted the implementation of the Uniform Illustrated Plumbing Code of India, while noting that compliance with the new laws is easier today due to usage of better materials and marked-out distances – unlike earlier, especially after the London Fire, where reality dawned on the industry about the need for use of fire-resistant insulation on the structure walls.

To a query about the unorganized sector in the Plumbing industry and challenges faced in coordinating with them, Arora said the Indian Professionals League had covered all industry professionals, including even engineers of well-known developers, builders and architects, in the training process that involved using American techniques and standards in dealing with even sewage disposal and faulty plumbing.

Minesh Shah, Chairman, Gujarat Chapter, IPA, said that 2-3 hours training is being provided to plumbers from both unorganized and organised sectors, while also creating awareness through related guide books with pictorials for the grassroots level people in the industry

Sharat Rao, Chairman, Mumbai Chapter, IPA, urged for every building being mandated for fire insurance, besides old buildings being tested for this especially after 60-65 years.

Focusing on water conservation, C.S. Gupta, National Secretary, IPA, said that the IPA is highlighting the principle of the four R’s: – Respect, Reuse, Retreat and Recycle – which would be showcased through display at the 25th IPC and in all IPA programmes conducted throughout the year. “This can help an individual save at least 20-50 litres of water a day,” he added.

The 25th IPCE will see participation of the entire World Plumbing Council (WPC) Board, including Chairman WPC & CEO – Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre, Australia; the CEO of the International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), USA & MD of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and other luminaries including the MD of Rain Water Harvesting & Infiltration Association of Japan. Around 50 of India’s top companies in the sector including Jain Irrigation, Astral Pipes, Kirloskar Pumps, Ashirvad Pipes, Prince Pipes, Finolex Pipes, Jindal Stainless Steel, and Grundfos are also expected to participate in the event.

The 25th IPC will witness talks and discussions by global and domestic industry leaders around the theme of the World Plumbing Council 2018, the ‘4 Pillars of Plumbing’ as in ‘Practices – Standards and accountability in day-to-day work in the industry’, ‘Products – Features and quality of the materials, fittings and appliances used in plumbing work’, ‘Participation – Primarily the training requirements to work in the industry ’ & ‘Protection – Measures to minimize risks and provide redressal when failures occur’.

The IPA noted that awareness about 11 cities in India being listed as “moving towards water bankruptcy,” the advent of reduction in fresh water supply, and increase in pollutants and untreated sewerage being unscrupulously released into fresh water streams and supply, the reduction in clean potable and fresh water — both for domestic and agricultural purpose — has reached enormously low receding levels. “We are truly in a crisis and war-like situation and, if we do not take ICU-meditated and planned measures, most of our urban cities will be highly water-stressed, with some reaching water bankruptcy earlier than later envisaged,” the IPA pointed out.

Emphasizing the need for drastic steps towards water stability, the IPA stated it would be an enormous task to ensure — reduction in water supply at source; treat, retreat and recycle waste water; harvesting rainwater; educating consumers in apt and correct use of water; and preventing leakages in plumbing systems –for providing clean and fresh water for the present and other generations to come.

With 70% of communicable diseases being transmitted through bad quality water – where Diarrhea is a bigger killer than even ‘Cancer’ and ‘Aids’ – Plumbing played a vital role in this regard as a +Plumbing Engineering Degree+ holder is viewed as a ‘Pubic Health Engineer’ in his/her responsibility for the health of millions, the IPA stated.

“Plumbing is a science, backed up by 1,000s’ of pages of Codes & Standard, and around 12% to 13% of construction cost is attributed to plumbing which is an integral part in every sort of construction – be it HIG, MIG or LIG,” the IPA noted.