14 FEATURES
World Plumbing Day:‘ Worldwide problems, global solutions’
Compiled by
Megan O’ Connor, with technical input from Gerrie Botha, IOPSA; Duncan Keil, UPP; and Patrick Gordon, Splashworks
On 11 March every year, we celebrate World Plumbing Day – a day of recognition for the essential role that plumbing plays in protecting public health, promoting well-being and improving quality of life.
Background picture by Orhan Pergel | Pexels.
In this feature, we will delve into the themes of the World Plumbing Council, which created World Plumbing Day, by looking into four themes echoed by the Council. These themes will be addressed at the World Plumbing Conference 2026, under the theme‘ world-wide problems, global solutions’. In this feature we will explore the following four themes in the South African context, as well as SA-specific solutions.
• Skills development
• Supply and conservation
• Sustainability
• Safeguarding the public
Skills development The use of unqualified people doing plumbing work in South Africa has been a persistent problem for years. In an effort to address the shortage of qualified artisans including plumbers, the Department of Higher Education, National Student Financial Aid Scheme( NSFAS) and other funders collaborated to create funded programmes to educate / train prospective artisans to become qualified. The challenges with these programmes are that they are advertised as a source of income given that there is a monthly stipend being paid to the candidate while studying, which many potential plumbers may opt for, as the‘ traditional route’ can be costly. This creates a situation where candidates are attracted to the programme purely for the income they can earn, as opposed to actually possessing a desire and passion to be a qualified plumber / artisan.
These funded programmes create a minimal throughput rate of students signing up for the programmes( for example, apprenticeship programmes) and actually ending up in the plumbing industry as qualified plumbers. This is because as soon as the funded programme ends, some students opt to join another funded programme instead of completing their plumbing training. This also leads to the conundrum of unqualified people doing plumbing work, where someone who has done some training – but not completed their qualification – may choose to offer plumbing services as a business, which can result in any plumbing work that he or she does creating more problems / risks than solutions.
Supply and conservation Plumbers sometimes opt to use non-compliant products for their jobs because the products are cheaper – and in reality, the plumber whose services are cheaper will often be chosen by customers to do their plumbing work, over the plumber who uses compliant( and more expensive) products. Ultimately, it is the consumer who is negatively impacted by these non-compliant products when the system fails – because of the workmanship and non-compliant products used, the consumer is jeopardised in that they have paid for something they are not getting. For example, a consumer wants a bathroom renovation, hires the cheapest worker who is unqualified and installs noncompliant products, and after the renovation the whole system fails, they now have no access to a properly functioning bathroom.
At the base of conservation and supply lies two questions:‘ How do we reduce water wastage?’ and‘ How do we reduce water usage?’ Although there are water efficient products available in the South African market, at the end of the day if you don’ t have the right plumber doing the project he might not be aware of these products, and water is unnecessarily wasted. Furthermore, poor installation and lack of maintenance can also lead to water wastage, as evident in the infrastructure failures experienced throughout South Africa.
“ South Africa has been classified as a water-stressed country by the United Nations Environmental Program.”
Sustainability In a 2023 Executive Summary by the Department of Water and Sanitation( DWS), water losses of 40.8 %, and Non-Revenue Water
www. plumbingafrica. co. za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline March 2026 Volume 32 I Number 01