India would join the rest of the world tomorrow in Celebrating World Plumbing Day, dedicated towards spreading the message of the need for management, care, reuse and conservation of water.

Speaking to media, Mr Robert Burgon, Chairman of the World Plumbing Council said, according to WHO, globally, 1.1 billion people did not have access to safe drinking water, 2.6 billion did not have access to improved sanitation and 3.1 million children died each year from water-related diseases with Indians also figuring among these statistics.

Plumbing was directly connected with the health of a country and ensuring safe drinking water and sanitation, he said.

The World Plumbing Council, which selected March 11 as World Plumbing Day last year, has dedicated the day to those in the global plumbing industry, to provide them an opportunity to promote the important role played by the industry.

The Indian Plumbing Association and the World Plumbing Council, joining with the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials of India, have come together to spread awareness about the need for better plumbing practices.

Growing demand

Mr Sudhakaran Nair, President of the Indian Plumbing Association and Executive Board Member of WPC, said India currently lacked in terms of trained manpower. Plumbing industry was dominated by the unorganised sector, which constituted nearly 90 per cent, he said.

An estimated below 1000 people were actually well qualified and trained plumbing professionals in the country.

The biggest challenge going forward would be to find trained manpower to address the plumbing needs of a rapidly growing construction and infrastructure industry.

Training dropouts

The Indian Plumbing Association had initiated a programme to train school dropouts in plumbing and make them employable.

Around 250 would be trained under the programme. Similarly, 12 institutes had begun programmes in the field which will lead to a churn out of 500 trained professionals in the coming days.

The main challenges to be addressed in the industry was to ensure churning out of a trained work force, accepting material of world standard and observing code and standards related to best plumbing practices.

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