WPD Activities_old

WORLD PLUMBING DAY IN THE NEWS

Good discussions about plumbing and World Plumbing Day:

http://www.bestheating.com/info/blog/world-plumbing-day-11th-march-2017/

http://www.wavin.com/web/news/show-news-on-page/turn-on-the-tap-its-world-plumbing-day-1.htm

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College held a competition between its plumbing students to mark World Plumbing Day:

https://www.svhs.org.uk/latest-news/celebrating-world-plumbing-day-669

In recognition of World Plumbing Day, Studor inventive technology raised money for Drop4Drop, an NGO carrying out water projects in India and Zambia:

http://drop4drop.org/world-plumbing-day/

In Jonkoping Sweden, a school awarded a diploma to the school champion in plumbing on World Plumbing Day:

http://www.ed.jonkoping.se/62/pa-ed/pressrum/nyheter/2017-03-06-world-plumbing-day-2017.html

In recognition of World Plumbing Day, the Plumbing Museum in Watertown Massachusetts held a fundraising gala to raise money for a sanitation initiative in Haiti:

http://www.theplumbingmuseum.org/2017-world-plumbing-day-gala-helping-haiti/

2017 WORLD PLUMBING DAY CELEBRATIONS

The scope of the 2017 World Plumbing Day (WPD) celebration continues to grow, with different organizations sending in reports of their various activities.

Australia

Master Plumbers Association of Queensland (MPAQ)
By once again hosting the industry’s biggest breakfast (340 attendees) and golf day (29 teams, more than 115 participants) on 10 March, MPAQ showed the importance of WPD. Special guests included The Hon. Cameron Dick, Minister for Health; The Hon. Grace Grace, Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations; and The Hon. Mark Bailey, Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply. The Hon. Mick de Brenni, Minister for Housing and Public Works and Minister for Sport, provided a video thanking attendees and acknowledging the important role of plumbers and gasfitters.

Carlie Low was appointed as the MPAQ’s new Female Plumbing Ambassador for 2017 at the celebration. The ambassadorship promotes the trade as a career for women.

Other guest speakers included representatives of Orange Sky Laundry, the world’s first free mobile laundry service for the homeless, with the service provided in major cities throughout Australia. At the event an auction and raffle raised a donation of more than $2,900 for Orange Sky Laundry.

Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (PICAC) (Click here to view the PDF report)
More than 300 people attended the WPD 2017 event held 10 March at PICAC. The event included an industry forum, plumbing and sprinkler-fitting apprentice skills competition and a trade expo. The industry forum included presentations from PICAC CEO and WPC Chair Shayne, La Combre; Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney; Community Plumbing Challenge participant Kirstin Griese; PICAC Chair and PPTEU Secretary Earl Setches; Commissioner of the Victorian Building Authority Anne Barker; and Josh Wilkins, Founder and CEO of One Voice.

The plumbing and sprinkler-fitting apprentice skills competition was live-streamed into the trade show, capturing 18 third and fourth-year apprentices completing their allotted tasks. Three plumbing and three sprinkler-fitting apprentices received prize money, with the winners of each category receiving toolkits and trophies.

Master Plumbers & Gasfitters Association of Western Australia (Click here to view the PDF report)
The Master Plumbers & Gasfitters Association of Western Australia sponsored “A Day at the Races” (video available online here). This year more than 170 members of the Western Australian plumbing community celebrated the importance of our industry at the annual World Plumbing Day event held at Perth’s Ascot Race Course. The day saw all horse races named after or affiliated with plumbing brands and companies.

Brazil

Abrinstal – Brazil (Click here to view the PDF report)
Abrinstal, the Brazilian Association for Conformity & Efficiency of Facilities, celebrated at the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo, which represents around 130,000 businesses. The event took place during a workshop attended by about 50 representatives of plumbing, infrastructure, and combustible gas firms. Abrinstal President Silvio Valdissera, launched international poster and video contests for WPD, inviting primary school children to participate.

Mr Valdissera also announced a WPD mascot competition, the rules of which will soon be available on the Abrinstal website – www.abrinstal.org.br.  “We’ll work to raise awareness about the plumbing professionals’ mission as a health agent, bringing piped water and sanitation for the population,” he said.

Abrinstal CEO Alberto Fossa, said, “There’s a lot to be done. In Brazil, according to recent studies, there are still 34 million people without access to piped water and more than half of them have no sewage collection.”

As part of its commitment to WPD, Abrinstal sent a message about the importance and recognition of the WPD to the President of Brazil, Michel Temer, and the Minister for Cities, Bruno Araújo.

Canada

Canadian Institute of Plumbing & Heating (CIPH) (Click here to view the PDF report)
The Canadian Institute of Plumbing & Heating worked in partnership with WPC Member the Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada and the CIPH’s nine regions to raise WPD’s profile across Canada. This was completed by creating a unique WPD logo and an infographic showing the impact of plumbing and Canada’s relationship with water. They also started a social media initiative, “150 Days of Plumbing,” that will highlight industry information released daily, beginning in February and continuing through to July 1. The 10 March 2017, episode of “The Water Brothers,” an eco-adventure TV series, was titled “The Big Leak” and covered significant issues for plumbing infrastructure in North America. A video was produced aimed at decreasing water consumption in the restaurant industry and distributed as a guest post on the Canadian Restaurant Association blog.

The CIPH’s British Columbia Region sold WPD T-shirts, which so far has raised $1,100 for WaterAid Canada.

Not to be outdone, the Calgary Region hosted a WPD barbecue with more than 150 participants.

India
Indian Plumbing Association (IPA) (Click here to view the PDF report)
The Indian Plumbing Association conducted a wide range of activities throughout India, including:

New Zealand

Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board of New Zealand (PGDB)
The PGDB set up a dedicated infographic webpage on the global impact of plumbing. A direct mail campaign to every Member of Parliament, every NZ Local Council, and the PGDB’s newsletter database containing 11,800+ subscribers outlined the important role played by the Plumbing Industry in protecting public health and safety, how the industry is trained and associated regulations. The continuation of the public awareness campaign ‘sort the pros from the cons’ launched by the Board in February 2017, that aims to achieve increased concern and inform the consumer of their vulnerability when using unauthorised people, was distributed via television, digital and social media advertising.

United Kingdom

Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering (CIPHE)
The CIPHE posted the following on its blog, with a number of press releases announcing the launch of its new publication, Safe Water Guide, which raises awareness of Legionnaires’ Disease and hot water scalding.

United States, Australia, India, Indonesia

The IAPMO Group (Click here to view the PDF report)
In Australia, IAPMO Oceana sponsored the WPD celebration held at PICAC and IAPMO staff attended the event.

In India, IAPMO participated in an IPA Chapter Meeting and technical seminar held in Bangalore on WPD and continued WPD activities in Kerala throughout April.

In Indonesia, activities included:

In the months leading up to 11 March, in the USA, IAPMO encouraged via social media its members, clients, and more than 80 chapters located globally, to promote and celebrate WPD in their own way. At several Chapter meetings, education classes, plumbing board meetings and trade expos, attendees received WPD stickers, brochures, lapel pins, pencils, and colouring sheets in honour of WPD.

IAPMO staff once again took the important WPD message to local elementary schools; WPC presentation slides showed the important role plumbing systems play in protecting our health. Nearly 500 students heard the presentation and designed posters for the WPC’s annual global poster contest. In addition to the presentation and invitation to participate in the global poster contest, students in upper elementary grades were tested on their knowledge of plumbing’s importance to health; students in the younger elementary grades were provided with colouring pages.