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IAPMO’ s annual Scholarship Essay Competition
Of all the IAPMO Group’ s core competencies, which division do you feel is making the greatest impact, and why?
In today’ s age, we are surrounded by modern miracles: dazzling cellphones buzzing away in countless pockets; lightning-fast fibre optic internet connections transporting the whole of human knowledge at the click of a finger; and an endless supply of goods and services that can be delivered to your front door in two days or fewer( with Prime shipping, of course). Living in a world in which we are constantly being inundated by all of these sorts of conveniences, one can be forgiven for overlooking the more humbling marvels that lie right under one’ s nose. Or should I say one’ s bathroom tile? I speak of the engineering achievement that is our modern plumbing system.
This system has laid the foundation for the success of today and the future, a golden age in which people live longer and better lives, free of the diseases of the past, to pursue advancements in a variety of disciplines. But like much innovation, progress was a slow journey that took many years of hard work before it became a commonplace standard. The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, otherwise known as IAPMO, has been in existence since 1926. From its humble beginnings of only 39 members, it has grown into a major global organisation with specialisations ranging from sanitation to solar energy. But of these many core competencies that make up IAPMO, I believe its most important division involves the organisation’ s initial purpose: the Uniform Plumbing Code. system with clay-lined cisterns for drinking water and a sewer system. In their capital city, the ruins of which reside in modern-day Pakistan, lie the remnants of an extensive plumbing architecture that provided indoor plumbing to the entire city, nobles and peasants alike.
Their brilliance would not be rivaled until the Romans another 2 000 years later. Indeed, we got the word‘ plumber’ from the Romans, derived from the Latin plumbarius, referring to a tradesperson who worked with lead to create the pipes that would transport water throughout Rome and its farreaching territories. The Romans had an obsession with fountains— their cities were full of them— but naturally fountains require a great deal of water, which is a problem for a landlocked city. So, they used their mastery of engineering to do the impossible: they brought running water from the Alps to the metropolis of Rome. Incredibly, many of their plumbing inventions, including the impressive aqueducts found all over Europe and their vast sewer systems, are still operational in some areas today. These marvelous feats made Rome the central power and envy of the ancient world. But alas, these wonders would disappear along with the fall of the Roman Empire. Without proper sanitation methods, Europe would be plunged into the Dark Ages, marked
Russ Chaney
In the spirit of the sharing of unique experiences that shape the plumbing industries in our respective nations, the following essay won first place in IAPMO’ s annual Scholarship Essay Competition. First introduced in 2009 and open to all high school, university, and trade school students, the competition has elicited entries from across the world. Written by David Barry of Georgia Gwinnett College in Cumming, Georgia, it is the next in a regular series of similar articles that will be run in this magazine.
To truly understand the magnitude of the Uniform Plumbing Code, one must examine the history that led to its creation. While we usually consider plumbing to be a recent amenity, truth is, the concept of moving water for sanitation and drinking purposes is not a new one. Every story must have a beginning, and plumbing found its beginning in China around 5000 BCE. Although the specifics are hazy, as is often the case in ancient history, we believe the earliest form of plumbing was constructed from bamboo pipes. It’ s hard to know the level of sophistication, but they were most probably the very first. It would be nearly 2 000 years later that another ancient civilisation, the Harrapans of the Indus Valley, would take this concept and create an elaborate
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www. plumbingafrica. co. za March 2017 Volume 23 I Number 1