The day after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, I told my wife, “It will be an interesting four years.” How prophetic that has been! 

The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials WE-Stand meeting started off with a change in the agenda to discuss blackwater reuse.

The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) recently published the monograph of proposed changes to the WE-Stand, which is short for Water Efficiency and Sanitation Standard. The document was previously identified as the Green Supplement.

The one cry we hear from building owners is, “There are never enough shutoff valves where you need them.”

There are four remaining state-written plumbing codes used in the United States. You could say that the remaining four states are just stubborn. Maybe they think they do it better than the model plumbing codes, but they don’t.

Ten years ago, I wrote a column that I entitled “No lead is good lead.” The column raised a number of eyebrows and is still quoted today. Actually, that column was written well after my first involvement with lead. I first got involved with lead in drinking water concerns in the early 1980s. I was interviewed for the Chicago local news in 1986 regarding lead in the Chicago drinking water.

Water heater, urinal flush rate and other topics broached at recent ICC code hearings.

Scalding, emergency equipment and Legionnaires’ disease at the forefront of 2021 code-change proposals.

Smart changes made to certain areas, others fail to make sense.

Controls have improved, but work still needs to be done to protect against thermal shock.