BRINGING YOU THIS EDITION’S UPDATES FROM MASTER PLUMBERS, INCLUDING A 2021 CALENDAR OF BRANCH & ASSOCIATION EVENTS.
Lobbying for safe drinking water As investigations were underway into the source of lead contamination of drinking water in the Otago towns of Karitane and Waikouaiti, Master Plumbers CEO Greg Wallace spoke on TV’s Newshub and radio’s Newstalk ZB, urging the government to prioritise safe drinking water for all New Zealanders. The potential for the contamination to have been caused by ageing lead infrastructure pipework is particularly concerning, he said, as it would point to a lack of preventative maintenance by the local authority. The World Health Organization deems that no level of lead exposure is safe and young children are particularly vulnerable to its toxic effects, which can lead to permanent adverse health outcomes. Master Plumbers has been lobbying for several years now for a mandatory third-party verification scheme like Australia’s WaterMark to make sure that tapware and pipes coming into New Zealand do not leach unacceptable levels of lead into drinking water. In New Zealand, this threshold is 10 μg/L, compared with 5 μg/L in countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Canada—and just 0.25 μg/L in the United States.
“We want the New Zealand drinking water product standard AS/NZS 4020 to be made mandatory and brought in line with the rest of the world,” says Greg Wallace, noting that Master Plumbers is currently engaging with the Ministry of Health and MBIE on this issue. We’ll bring more on this topic in the next edition.
IPLEX: DELIVERING PIPELINES TO NEW ZEALAND You may not have heard of Iplex Pipelines but, if you’ve been in the industry for a while, you’re sure to have come across Iplex products. One of New Zealand’s best unknown brands, much of what Iplex manufactures and supplies gets covered up either below ground or behind walls. But, thanks to over 80 years of plastics innovation, industry service and technical experience, Iplex is regarded as a leading manufacturer of plastic pipeline systems.
What Iplex does This Master Plumbers Gold Business Partner develops plastic pipeline solutions for the plumbing and gas, civil, rural, energy and communications sectors at production facilities in Palmerston North, Christchurch and Ashburton. These centres are the manufacturing and distribution hubs for a wide range of PE and PVC systems for pressure and non-pressure pipelines.
Commitment to the plumbing and gas sector From reticulation of potable and non-potable water to sanitary plumbing, wastewater drainage and gas, Iplex pipes and fitting systems are used to carry vital services throughout the places we work and live. Not only do they have a nationwide team of experienced salespeople to support merchants and their customers, but they also have friendly engineers on hand to help with those more complex technical enquiries. Find out more at iplex.co.nz
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