SA Wins Bid to Host World Plumbing Conference 2016

The Institute of Plumbing South Africa (IOPSA) has won the bid to host the World Plumbing Conference 2016 in Cape Town.

Lee Goldie, Institute of Plumbing South Africa (IOPSA) vice president, said IOPSA received a late invitation from the World Plumbing Council to bid for the World Plumbing Conference (WPC) in 2016.

The team worked tirelessly to ensure that the conference would come to South Africa. The working committee was mandated to create a bid that would encourage and entice the World Plumbing Council to see the potential South Africa has to offer. South Africa was pitted against Melbourne, Australia which was also bidding.

“We knew we had to do better than Australia, which hosted the WPC in 1985. No doubt Australia is a major player within the World Plumbing Council and a global player in the plumbing industry” he said.

IOPSA plans to change the format of the WPC in 2016, “We want to attract challenge-driven industry professionals to the conference. We aim to provide them with tangible solutions to meet the challenges of sanitation, plumbing, water safety, training and skills upliftment” said Goldie.

More than 650 delegates are expected to attend the conference. It will be a meeting place where African delegates can interact with the WPC. Membership for all Southern African Development Community countries will be negotiated at the conference.

The theme of WPC 2016 is “Water for Africa”. The issues surrounding the provision of water in Africa will be spotlighted. Unsafe drinking water and waterborne diseases are the causes of many deaths in Africa. The conference will partially focus on solutions to eradicate these.

“The international community can share, guide and assist Africa in its goals to uplift its health and safety standards” concluded Goldie.