Improvements in plumbing infrastructure have made a significant impact American immunologist Dr Lewis Thomas said the following in a paper he wrote in 2009;
“There is no question that our health has improved spectacularly in the past century. One thing seems certain: it did not happen because of improvements in medicine or medical science or even the presence of doctors; much of the credit should go to the plumbers and sanitary engineers of the western world”.
But today more than 3 million people around the world still die every year from preventable waterborne diseases including gastrointestinal diseases (e.g. Cryptosporidiosis Giardiasis Cholera) vector-borne diseases (e.g. malaria dengue fever) and legionnaires disease which is spread by inhalation of contaminated water droplets.
The spread of many such diseases can be directly related to plumbing its quality and its contamination.
Potential problems in the developed world revolve around system failure and mechanical difficulties with chlorine pumps filters and other control systems; the overloading of sewerage treatment plants resulting in sludge solids being discharged into clean water; contamination of pipes which are not adequately constructed or maintained; and restricted access or an inability to fix older systems.
Then there is the problem of new bugs.
Between 1972 and 1999 a total of 35 new agents of disease were discovered. A particular area of concern relates to airborne viruses (SARS swine flu) which although not strictly waterborne and nonetheless assisted by poor plumbing and sanitation facilities.
The interaction of disease causing micro-organisms and humans produces a whole range of new challenges to the modern plumber.
