Waste Water Drainage Is A Plumbing Issue!

The building regulations on drainage and waste disposal are designed to protect public health and safety and the water bylaws are designed to prevent the misuse, waste and contamination of water. Before undertaking work on soil and waste pipes or drains (except for emergency unblocking), the local authority must be contacted.Yet the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) were in the news again recently, giving its official backing to the Connect Right campaign, launched to raise awareness of the health and environment problems caused by misconnection to the public drainage system. A breach of both water regulations and health and safety regulations, it is an issue which we only mentioned on this blog last month.Both internal and external pipes and drains can easily become blocked over time, causing not only the water to cease to drain away easily, but smells from the drain making their way into the property. More seriously, damp can form as a result of walls remaining wet.For the majority of houses built in the UK before the 1960s, the waste water from a property is split and drained in 2 distinct ways:Waste water from baths, sinks and washbasins is drained into a trapped gully at ground level, which in turn flows into the main sewer network. Water from toilets feeds separately into a large bore vertical waste pipe which runs directly into the sewer network.Modern houses operate a 'single stack waste system', whereby all waste water, irrespective of it's point of origin, drains directly into the main sewer network via a large bore waste pipe.Thoroughly understanding and knowing exactly how to correctly supply a safe water connection is a key training module, which forms part of a plumber's training on an approved NVQ course at an accredited skills training centre. In order to be able to enter the industry, a standard learning procedure must be undertaken before obtaining verified certification and qualification as a trained plumber.All entrants must study on an approved NVQ 6129 Plumbing Level 2 Technical certificate course in both theory and practical. Once a student has satisfactorily completed this first part and gone onto the NVQ Level 3, can he or she be considered 'competent' to begin their career proper.Legal and Registered plumbers will always be able to show and demonstrate their formal plumbing training and qualifications, and thus hopefully, prevent more of the incompetent and negligent lack of responsible workmanship that often is reported and brings the industry into disrepute.