“Plumbers are the silent heroes of our society” says Mike Frost, the owner of TAP KING Plumbers. “Most people don’t realise plumbers ensure the health and safety of our families. What they do is very important”.

World Plumbing Day is an international event held on 11 March and is recognised by the World Health Organisation. It has been created to acknowledge the role the plumbing industry plays in delivering clean water to houses and ensuring waste water does not contaminate our precious water resources.

“It is estimated that 2 million tonnes of human waste is discharged into our water resources every day”, World Water Assessment Program.

Without plumbers and the implementation of high plumbing standards like we have in Australia we would be faced with many diseases that are currently preventable, such as diarrhoeal diseases like cholera and typhoid. These diseases are killing 3.1 million people each year in countries that lack these basic privileges we take for granted.

As a plumber that is passionate about upholding high plumbing standards and specialises in problem waste pipes, Mike often sees firsthand the impacts broken sewer pipes in back yards have on the condition of our water ways.

“I regularly see broken pipes that leak effluent into the ground” Mike said. “People don’t realise that sewerage from ineffective septic tanks and broken sewer pipes quickly makes its way into ground water, eventually making its way to our drinking water”.

At the moment Coal Seam Gas Fracking is a huge threat to our precious water sources. But Mike is also concerned that householders need to be aware they could also be contributing to the contamination of our water within their own back yard.

If you want to contribute to keeping our water ways contamination free you can follow these steps to prevent excess sewer and storm water entering the council sewer mains, which overloads the system and eventually overflows into our waterways:

1. Ensure cracked and broken sewer pipes are repaired promptly to prevent ground and stormwater entering the sewer.
2. Underground pipes around a house usually have an opening with a grate on top (often found under hose taps). These should be above ground level to stop ponding water during heavy rainfall entering the sewerage system.
3. Do not use items such as wet wipes or flushable wipes as they cause blockage in both private and council pipelines.
4. If you have a slow draining toilet, sink or bath, have them checked by a qualified plumber to ensure your pipes aren’t damaged and leaking sewer into the ground.
5. Have your downpipes checked to make sure they are not connected to your sewerage pipes. If they have been connected incorrectly all your clean roof water will be going into the council sewer main and overloading the system.
6. If you have a septic system make sure it is not blocked and operates correctly so that sewer does not overflow into surrounding water ways.

World Plumbing Day Video
World Plumbing Council Website

A recent trip to the Powerhouse Museum uncovered some interesting facts about the flushing toilet and how its introduction increased a person’s average live span of 20 to 30 years!

Sanitation

Before sanitation improved public health in the late 1800s, working people didn’t expect to live much beyond the age of 30. Crowded towns were considered death traps because human waste was dumped into pits where it could pollute water supplies. Diseases like cholera flourished, killing thousands at a time.

Flushing toilets had a profound effect on the average person’s outlook because we could plan for an extra 20 or 30 years of life. This toilet was made by Johnson Bros in England between 1880 and 1910.

An Electric Eel is a machine that many plumbers use to try and unblock pipes. It has a long coil that spins and thrashes inside the pipe in an attempt to smash and cut out what is causing blockage.

The machine was first invented in the 1920’s when sturdy clay pipes were the norm. However, most of our pipes today are made from PVC plastic that can not withstand the repeated friction and smashing of an Electric Eel. Unfortunately while Electric Eels cut and punch a hole through the blockage they can also punch a hole through the pipe, requiring you to then dig up and fix the pipe.

Check to make sure your plumber is using a ‘Pipe Jetter’ (high pressure water) to clean your drains. It is a lot quicker, less harmful to your pipes and doesn’t leave any debris behind.

We first received a call from a customer who was on a rural property on the Gold Coast. Their toilet kept filling up and then draining slowly, and sometimes the sink would gurgle too.

We explained over the phone that we do not use electric eels to fix blocked drains as they can cause further damage inside the pipe. However, the customer wasn’t too sure about paying a little bit extra for us to use the drain jetter and camera to identity and solve the problem quickly. They felt they could get a different plumber who was a bit cheaper, but he did use an electric eel to unblock drain pipes.

Four weeks later we received another call from the customer to say that they had used the other plumber with the electric eel. He had cleared the blockage at first but it was blocking up even worse now and the water in the toilet wasn’t going down at all. They asked if we could come and use our drain camera and jetter to see what was going on.

Unfortunately for the customer the camera showed that an internal section of the pipe had been smashed with the electric eel that the first plumber had used and now the complete section of the pipe had to be replaced.

We were able to fix the pipe by using our ‘No Dig’ internal pipe liner which meant the customer was very happy as they did not have to dig up and destroy their beautiful garden to fix the pipe.

When the weather starts to get dry, trees start getting thirsty. A tree’s extended underground root system knows how to find water and will go looking for it. If you have a small crack in your pipe or even a pipe fitting that has not been glued properly it is a perfect entry point for tree roots to get into your pipes and cause a blockage in no time.

A tree root can first enter a sewer or storm water pipe as a tiny feeler root. Once it enters the pipe and has a regular supply of water and nutrients from the sewer or storm water pipe it lives happily growing larger and larger till all of a sudden you start having problems flushing your toilet. The water may back up in your toilet and drain slowly.

With all the dry weather we are having at the moment we are getting lots of blocked drains caused by tree roots.

Plumbers Tweed Coast

A sinkhole in the centre of Guatemala City that swallowed a three-storey building in May 2010. Photograph: Luis Echeverria/AP

It was reported in the news recently that a sink hole 10 meters wide and 20 feet deep opened up under the bedroom of a house, taking the man with it, who was in the bedroom, preparing for bed at the time. (view article here)

Sink holes can be caused by several different events, either by nature or as a result of man made error. Sink holes created by natural means happen when acidic rain water filters into the ground that then dissolves rock and in turn leads to underground caverns, then when the top layer collapses into the cavern a sink hole is born.

The other way a sink hole can occur is when a broken sewer or storm water pipe under the ground begins leaking water, eroding the soil around it and causing an underground cavern. A sudden heavy down fall of rain can then add increased weight to the surface layer of soil, making it too heavy for the cave beneath which then collapses.

Residents in Ocean Shores, NSW, just south of the Gold Coast awoke one morning this week to find a gaping hole that had opened in the middle of their street. The hole measures 90cm long, 40cm wide and at least two meters deep. (view article here)

The best way to avoid possible sink holes is to make sure you have good drainage, and that it is free from leaks or cracks. Make sure you have your sewer and storm water pipes checked to make sure they are not leaking or broken. Also ensure that your down pipes don’t just discharge onto the ground, but are properly connected to your storm water system.

Keep your eyes out for any tell-tale signs that may indicate you could be in danger of a sink hole in your back yard. Some things to watch out for are sagging trees or fence posts, doors and windows that no longer close properly and rain water collecting in unlikely places.