Shayne La Combre (SLC): Two things came together at the same time. The first is the emergence of World Plumbing Day and a global desire to better understand the contribution of plumbers to community health. We wanted to send a positive message that the principles of plumbing, including access to fresh water and sanitation, are for the greater good. No matter whether you are in a developed or developing nation, or whether you have no, simple or advanced systems, the role of the plumber is to understand and maintain those systems to preserve public health. So this book is about promoting the principles of good plumbing and the contribution of plumbers in optimising what is available. We also wanted to get the message out there that people should not be interfering with those systems; to do so would risk serious consequences such as the outbreak of disease or other illness. That is why plumbers and the broader community need to understand the importance of good plumbing.

The second issue we wanted to tackle was the lack of understanding among many plumbers about the importance of their role. Plumbing systems have been around for a long time and plumbers have been servicing those systems in that time, however sometimes it is not always clear what are the reasons why certain things work in a certain way. Helping plumbers to be re-educated about the reasons why they do certain things is important for the community, the plumbing industry and regulators in terms of compliance. It is one thing for us to sanction plumbers if they do something wrong, but we believe the more effective action is to help them understand the reasons behind certain practices and spell out the risks and consequences of bad plumbing maintenance, which most plumbers would be abhorred with.

JJ: Is understanding the foundations behind plumbing and plumbing systems the key message?