The World Plumbing Council General Meeting, held virtually on Dec. 9, was a great success. There were more than 200 registered attendees from across the globe, including India, the United States, Canada, Norway, Australia, Hong Kong, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Rwanda, Ireland, Brazil, China, Philippines, Jordan, Zambia and Switzerland.
The meeting began with the business portion of the WPC, led by WPC Chairman Thomas Bigley, and included insightful discussion and sharing of how the pandemic was affecting members.
IWSH Managing Director Seán Kearney then gave a presentation on the work the WPC and IWSH have accomplished in 2020, and the plans for 2021.
The World Health Organization (WHO) keynote presentation discussed the global progress on WASH and waste in health care facilities. The presentation underscored the huge gaps in plumbing and water services around the world.
“This (year) has highlighted more than ever that facilities don’t have the basic services to deal with patients, let alone COVID-19 patients” said WASH consultant Arabella Hayter. “There’s many facilities that don’t have even water supply, so obviously they can’t do any of these basic infection prevention control methods that we are talking about that are so important.”
The meeting concluded with a stimulating panel discussion on plumbing system implications related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other diseases, as well as the importance of using science and testing to verify plumbing systems are working properly, both on the water delivery and the sanitation side.
“I know from speaking to designers — especially when we get into really tall or very complex buildings — they’re genuinely worried because they have no way of checking if this has really worked, apart from if they get a phone call and they say ‘This isn’t working,’ and you know, it’s disaster at that point,” said Dr. Michael Gormley, speaking on the need for better monitoring of sanitation systems.
Recordings of the presentations are available below.
A special thank-you to our presenters who helped make the meeting a great success!
