How Industrial Plumbing Changed the World

Learning About Modern-Day Sanitation Heroes

Life is hard enough without coming home from work to an overflowing toilet or a low water-pressure shower that refuses to work right before an important meeting. These are modern-day inconveniences that can be solved by a quick call to a local plumber.

Now, imagine life without plumbing. How hard would life be in a world without a sewage system or water purification? The amount of human waste accumulation would be unimaginable. Where would all of it go?

Here’s Why Plumbers Are So Important for Society

There is no denying indoor residential plumbing has made life exceptionally more convenient compared to life without it. A residential plumber can resolve some of the most common homeowner’s issues. For example, that annoying dripping faucet that keeps people up at night, the water heater that goes out after wanting nothing more than a hot shower, or the busted pipe that floods the basement. Residential plumbers take care of all household plumbing needs. Life would be less convenient without residential plumbing, but if society didn’t have industrial plumbing, the consequences would be devastating.

Before proper sanitation practices, the waste removal process was barbaric at best. People would dump waste onto the ground or into the waterways. Doing this led to many of the plagues throughout human history.

The disease-ridden waste contaminated the well water everyone drank. There was no water treatment for the rivers and lakes people would both dump in and drink from. Cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, and polio are some of the diseases plagued by the masses due to inadequate water treatment. Poor sanitation was one of the reasons the Bubonic Plague spread so rapidly.

Along with the aid of vaccines, industrial plumbing had a significant impact on the eradication of these waste-related diseases. Although they still exist, these diseases have significantly decreased in communities with modern plumbing.

How to Become an Industrial Plumber

Becoming an industrial plumber is no easy task. Few are accepted into the apprenticeship program.

Acceptance requirements:

High school diploma or equivalent
Driver’s License
Passing aptitude tests

Once accepted, the apprentice must take 8000 hours of on-the-job training in no less than four years and 576 hours of relevant classes.

After years of training to become a licensed plumber, the apprentice must take the state-required Journeyman’s exam. Most states require a plumber’s license.

What Services Do Commercial Plumbers Provide?

Clogged drains are a big problem in commercial buildings, especially in food establishments that handle grease. When a clogged drain is present, the first thing commercial plumbers try is drain snaking. They send a long cable with a corkscrew head through the pipes to remove any blockages.

If that doesn’t work, plumbers will do a video inspection by sending a camera through the pipe to locate the blockage. For severe blockages, plumbers use hydro-jetting. Like pressure washing, hydro-jetting cleans the pipes, but plumbers have to be careful not to damage old pipes.

About Valley Plumbing and Drain Cleaning

Salt Lake City’s Valley Plumbing and Drain Cleaning provides residential and commercial plumbing services to their community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Opening in 2011 as a family-owned and family-run business, Valley Plumbing provides an honest solution to the community’s plumbing needs.