6 ASSOCIATIONS
The state of the plumbing industry and its impact on cholera
By
David Poggiolini for IOPSA
“… the majority of “ plumbers ” are not qualified , the majority of materials being used are non-compliant , the majority of plumbing installations are non-compliant , the municipalities are not able to control the situation on their own and the informal , non-compliant industry is slowly killing the formal trained and qualified plumbers .
To say that the situation is dire would be a gross understatement . It is small wonder that South Africa finds itself amid a growing water , sanitation , and health crisis .”
With the recent outbreak of cholera in several regions of South Africa the public has , possibly for the first time , become aware that water borne diseases are not just a phenomenon in far flung rural areas . It is extremely sad that it has taken the deaths of so many people to raise the subject with the public and to galvanise authorities into action . The media and most authorities have raised the important issues of the treatment of both wastewater and potable water as being key in protecting public health . These are certainly important and cannot be ignored , but there is another key factor which has largely been ignored in most of the discussions and debates : the state of the plumbing industry .
Whilst building dams , bulk water supply lines , water treatment plants and wastewater treatment works are critical infrastructure which any country needs to function , people often forget that plumbing forms a crucial part of these systems . Potable water needs to get from these big infrastructure projects into homes and businesses , wastewater needs to be disposed of safely and directed to treatment plants , and rainwater needs to be disposed of correctly . If this is not done properly the whole system becomes effectively useless . A potable water treatment plant becomes useless if the water is contaminated or lost through leaks before it even gets to homes . A wastewater treatment plant is useless if the sewerage never even gets to it , and if large volumes of rainwater enter sewer systems it damages treatment plants and causes huge spillages of raw sewage , not to mention flooding . Getting these systems installed correctly is the role of the plumber .
IOPSA
Compliance is not negotiable .
When most people think of plumbers , they think of someone who repairs a tap or geyser or unblocks a drain but there is much more going on behind the scenes . For these systems to work properly they must be installed , connected , and repaired in particular ways , using the correct material to function properly . If not , they end up causing damage and putting the health of the public at risk . So , what is the state of this important industry ? To understand what is happening one needs to look at the research . Sadly , there isn ’ t a huge amount available , but below are the highlights from the available research .
• According to the Water Research Commission in 2006 , as much as 60 % of all plumbing materials being sold in South Africa do not comply to legal requirements . Anecdotal evidence suggests that the situation has worsened since then .
• TIPS ( Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies ) conducted research in 2018 and found that of the 126 000 people who identify their job title as “ plumber ”, only an estimated 15 000 were qualified .
• In 2019 , PEM Consulting found that the plumbing industry is characterised by far more informal activity than formal , with the number of formal enterprises declining every year and the
www . plumbingafrica . co . za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline August 2023 Volume 29 I Number 6