Plumbing

Gurmit Singh Arora, President, Indian Plumbing Association “The management of water in future will determine the ability to achieve high economic growth; and ensure food for our burgeoning population, water for hygiene and improvement in quality of lives and environmental stability. India stands at 120 out of 122 countries in terms of water quality. Implementing ‘NalSe Jal’ for piped water for all will help us solve the problem of augmenting water supply, including treating every drop of discharged water, rainwater-harvesting the increased drawdown and refilling of aquifers, stopping pollution into our water bodies completely, creating local communities to look after water bodies around them, and managing water consumption at source. The plumbing industry’s expectations in terms of trends for 2020 are: The Government of India should set up a Bureau of Water Efficiency on similar lines as the BEE. Aerators should be distributed at subsidised rates, like BEE did for LED lighting to popularise the same and increase its usage, thereby saving 35-50 per cent of water without compromising on the comfort level of the user. The Government should mandate low-flow fixtures, sanitaryware, washing machines and dishwashers as per the Water Efficient Product India Guide 2017 (WEPI), published by the Indian Plumbing Association and International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, USA. Rainwater harvesting and treatment of sewerage water should be made compulsory on a minimum sq ft or sq m of site area and the treated water used for flushing, gardening, cooling towers or washing of cars. We should move towards 100 per cent net-zero projects on water for all future projects in India. All plumbing should be code-based as per the Uniform Illustrated Plumbing Code of India, revised and rechristened in 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017, published by the Indian Plumbing Association and International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, USA