Today we slice horizontally through several vertical catalogs that interact, cross reference and are fairly dynamic in their best practice discovery and promulgation.
ASME A112.*| ASSE Series 5000 | AWWA| IAPMO | CISPI 301 Series | NSF Ann Arbor Michigan
Plumbing and sanitation systems in educational settlements – especially those with healthcare and research enterprises are intricately linked, ensuring clean water supply, waste removal, and public health. Plumbing systems deliver potable water to dormitories, academic buildings, dining halls, and recreational facilities through a network of pipes, pumps, and valves. (Kitchens). These systems source water from municipal supplies or campus wells, often treated to meet safety standards (Backflow Prevention). Hot water heaters and pressure regulators maintain consistent supply for showers, sinks, and laboratories.
Sanitation systems, conversely, manage wastewater and sewage. They collect used water from toilets, sinks, and showers, channeling it through drainage pipes to campus treatment facilities or municipal sewer systems. Advanced campuses may employ on-site wastewater treatment plants, using processes like sedimentation and biological treatment to reduce environmental impact. Regular maintenance, including pipe cleaning and septic tank pumping, prevents blockages and contamination.
The interaction requires precise coordination. Plumbing systems must avoid cross-contamination with sanitation lines, using backflow preventers and proper pipe insulation.
Sanitation systems rely on plumbing’s water flow to transport waste efficiently. On large campuses, high demand during peak hours challenges both systems, necessitating robust infrastructure. Sustainable practices, like low-flow fixtures and greywater recycling, enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and align with campus environmental goals, ensuring a hygienic and functional environment.
Join us today at 11 AM when we sort through the settled science and unsettled standards of care. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
Related:
The University has a strong reputation for research and innovation in many fields related to the prevention of backflow incidents:
Viterbi School of Engineering has a dedicated Environmental Engineering program that focuses on water quality and management. This program has faculty members who are experts in water treatment and distribution systems, including backflow prevention technologies. The school also offers research opportunities for graduate students to work on water-related projects, including those related to backflow prevention.
Keck School of Medicine has a Department of Preventive Medicine that conducts research on environmental health, including waterborne diseases and contamination. This department has published research on the prevention of waterborne disease outbreaks and the importance of backflow prevention measures in protecting public health.
The USC Environmental Health and Safety department is responsible for overseeing the safety and compliance of the university’s facilities, including its water systems. EH&S works closely with the university’s Facilities Management Services to ensure that backflow prevention measures are in place and maintained.
The USC Foundation drafts definitions and specifications covering cross-connection control and the assemblies required for the prevention of backflow.
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Have a great weekend X friends 🎶🎵 pic.twitter.com/jqq5GyPBsN
— GreatLakesLady (@GreatlakesladyM) April 12, 2025
“…O chestnut tree;, great rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bold?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
— Among Schoolchildren, 1933 William Butler Yeats
We sweep through the world’s three major time zones; updating our understanding of the literature at the technical foundation of education community safety and sustainability in those time zones 24 times per day. We generally eschew “over-coding” web pages to sustain speed, revision cadence and richness of content as peak priority. We do not provide a search facility because of copyrights of publishers and time sensitivity of almost everything we do.
Readings:
“The Advancement of Learning” Francis Bacon (1605)
“The Allegory of the Cave” 380 BCE | Plato’s Republic, Book VII
Thucydides: Pericles’ Funeral Oration
IEEE Access: Advanced Deep Learning Models for 6G: Overview, Opportunities, and Challenges | Xidian University
“Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination” (2002) Peter Ackroyd
“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” Satoshi Nakamoto
“Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” (1841) | Charles Mackay
Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Study of Mind
“Kant’s Categorical Imperative” | Hillsdale College Introduction to Western Philosophy
“The Natural History of Stupidity” (1959) Paul Tabori
“The College Idea: Andrew Delbanco” Lapham’s Quarterly
Distributed Representations of Words and Phrases and their Compositionality | Google, Inc. et, al
Our daily colloquia are typically doing sessions; with non-USA titles receiving priority until 16:00 UTC and all other titles thereafter. We assume policy objectives are established (Safer-Simpler-Lower-Cost, Longer-Lasting). Because we necessarily get into the weeds, and because much of the content is time-sensitive and copyright protected, we usually schedule a separate time slot to hammer on technical specifics so that our response to consultations are meaningful and contribute to the goals of the standards developing organization and to the goals of stewards of education community real assets — typically the largest real asset owned by any US state and about 50 percent of its annual budget.
1. Leviathan. We track noteworthy legislative proposals in the United States 118th Congress. Not many deal specifically with education community real assets since the relevant legislation is already under administrative control of various Executive Branch Departments such as the Department of Education.
We do not advocate in legislative activity at any level. We respond to public consultations but there it ends.
We track federal legislative action because it provides a stroboscopic view of the moment — the “national conversation”– in communities that are simultaneously a business and a culture. Even though more than 90 percent of such proposals are at the mercy of the party leadership the process does enlighten the strengths and weakness of a governance system run entirely through the counties on the periphery of Washington D.C. It is impossible to solve technical problems in facilities without sensitivity to the zietgeist that has accelerated in education communities everywhere.
Michigan can 100% water and feed itself. Agriculture is its second-largest industry.
2. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
3. American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
4. Fast Forward
5. Rewind
6. Corrigenda
“The world will never starve for want of wonders;
but only for want of wonder.”
The American Water Works Association is one of the first names in accredited standards developers that administer leading practice discovery in backflow prevention consensus documents; usually referenced in local and state building codes; and also in education facility design guidelines and construction specifications.
The original University of Michigan standards enterprise gave highest priority to backflow standards because of their central importance of backflow management to education communities; especially large research universities nested within a municipal water system. Backflow prevention; an unseen technology that assures a safe drinking water supply by keeping water running in one direction by maintaining pressure differences. Analogous to the way we want electrical current to run in one direction, failure of backflow prevention technology poses a near-instantaneous health risk for the contamination of potable water supplies with foul water. In the most obvious case, a toilet flush cistern and its water supply must be isolated from the toilet bowl. In a less obvious case, but at greater scale, a damaged backflow prevention technology at a university research building can contaminate an host-community potable water supply.
There are other ANSI accredited standards developers in the backflow prevention technology space — the International Code Council, the IAPMO Group and ASSE International — for example.
At the moment no AWWA redlines relevant to our objective are open for consultation. Several relatively stabilized product standards are marked up but none dealing specifically with interoperability issues. When they are uploaded you may access them at the link below:
AWWA Standards Public Comment Home Page
Students and Young Professionals
AWWA is the first name in US-based water standards so we maintain the AWWA catalog on our Plumbing & Water colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Issue: [11-57]
Category: Water Safety, Plumbing, Mechanical
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Richard Robben, Steve Snyder, Larry Spielvogel
Happy birthday, Mary Oliver: ✨ pic.twitter.com/ZHxWgNZBaX
— Dr. Maya C. Popa (@MayaCPopa) September 10, 2023
LEARN MORE
The International Plumbing Code (IPC) is developed to harmonize with the full span of ICC’s family of building codes. The IPC sets minimum regulations for plumbing systems and components to protect life, health and safety of building occupants and the public. The IPC is available for adoption by jurisdictions ranging from states to towns, and is currently adopted on the state or local level in 35 states in the U.S, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
CLICK HERE for the 2021 Public Access Edition
The IPC is developed in the ICC Group A Code development framework and concluded its revision cycle in late 2021 under the circumstances of the pandemic. The 2023 International Plumbing Code revision cycle will not begin until early 2023 but it is never too soon to understand the issues from previous revision cycles to enlighten approaches to the forthcoming Group A revision cycle. The complete monograph of the Group A Codes is linked below, with comments on IPC proposals starting on Page 1417 of this 1613 page document:
2021 IPC | Group A Public Comment Monograph
Because transgender issues are on the agenda of many facility managers we direct you to Page 1424 of the rather large document linked above.
As always, we persist in encouraging education industry facility managers (especially those with operations and maintenance data) to participate in the ICC code development process. You may do so by CLICKING HERE.
Real asset managers for school districts, colleges, universities and technical schools in the Las Vegas region should take advantage of the opportunity to observe the ICC code-development process during the upcoming ICC Annual Conference in Las Vegas, October 20-23 during which time the Group B c Public Comment Hearings will take place. Even though the IPC has moved farther along the ICC code development process it is still enlightening to observe how it work. The Group B Hearings are usually webcast — and we will signal the link to the webcast when it becomes available — but the experience of seeing how building codes are determined is enlightening when you can watch it live and on site.
Issue: [16-133]
Category: Plumbing, Water, Mechanical
Colleagues: Eric Albert, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel
#StandardsNewMexico
LEARN MORE:
Neutral Public Bathroom Design
— Leslie (@Hopeleslie1234) August 10, 2024
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe,
think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.”
|
Introduction to Power Systems & Special Cases | Glenn Keates, P.E.
April 16, 4:30 – 6:00 PM | University of Michigan EECS Bldg, Rm. 1303
IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section (SEM)
Thomas Edison Hydropower Plant Tour 2023 Ω MSU FRIB Tour 2022
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Electrical Power System Research Ω NFPA Electrical Standards Landing Page
Department of Energy Portfolio Analysis & Management System
Proposal for Performance-Based Building Premise Wiring | Chapter 27): Monograph Page 754
Policy:
January 16 FERC Press Conference
January 23: NARUC Congratulates New FERC, FCC and NRC Chairs
January 22: Newly Appointed FCC Chairman Announces Staff Changes | Related: Falsus in uno, Falsus in omnibus
January 6: City of Ann Arbor Postpones Phase II Study to Municipalize DTE Energy distribution grid
January 27, 10 AM Low-Income Energy Policy Board Meeting: Michigan Public Service commission
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: January 16, 2025 Open Meeting
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notice of Request for Comments (Posted November 25, 2024)
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission | November 21, Open Meeting
Michigan Public Service Commission Meetings
Michigan Public Commission Meeting February 27, 2025
MPSC DTE CMS Electric Power Reliability Case No. U-21305
Michigan Electrical Administrative Board Meeting February 13, 2025
FCC Open Meeting | November 21
Technical: (Also Electrical Power System Research)
Use this for today’s meeting: Proposal_10627_1741190378
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First Draft Proposals contain most of our proposals — and most new (original) content. We will keep the transcripts linked below but will migrate them to a new page starting 2025:
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-1
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-2
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-4
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-5
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-10
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-11
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-12
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-13
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-15
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-16
2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-18
Related:
N.B. We are in the process of migrating electric power system research to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers bibliographic format.
Recap of the May meetings of the Industrial & Commercial Power Systems Conference in Las Vegas. The conference ended the day before the beginning of the 3-day Memorial Day weekend in the United States so we’re pressed for time; given all that happened.
We can use our last meeting’s agenda to refresh the status of the issues.
IEEE E&H Draft Agenda 28 May 2024
On site conference agenda:
IEEE E&H Conference Agenda 21 May 2024
We typically break down our discussion into the topics listed below:
Codes & Standards:
While IAS/I&CPS has directed votes on the NEC; Mike is the only I&CPS member who is actually submitting proposals and responses to codes and standards developers to the more dominant SDO’s — International Code Council, ASHRAE International, UL, ASTM International, IEC & ISO. Mike maintains his offer to train the next generation of “code writers and vote getters”
Performance-based building premises feeder design has been proposed for the better part of ten NEC revision cycles. The objective of these proposals is to reduce material, labor and energy waste owed to the branch and feeder sizing rules that are prescriptive in Articles 210-235. Our work in service and lighting branch circuit design has been largely successful. A great deal of building interior power chain involves feeders — the network upstream from branch circuit panels but down stream from building service panel.
Our history of advocating for developing this approach, inspired by the NFPA 101 Guide to Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, and recounted in recent proposals for installing performance-based electrical feeder design into the International Building Code, appears in the link below:
Access to this draft paper for presentation at any conference that will receive it — NFPA, ICC or IEEE (or even ASHRAE) will be available for review at the link below:
Toward Performance-Based Building Premise Feeder Design
Buildings:
Renovation economics, Smart contracts in electrical construction. UMich leadership in aluminum wiring statements in the NEC should be used to reduce wiring costs.
Copper can’t be mined fast enough to electrify the United States
Daleep asked Mike to do a Case Study session on the NEC lighting power density change (NEC 220-14) for the IAS Annual Meeting in October. Mike agreed.
Exterior Campus & Distribution:
Illumination. Gary Fox reported that IEEE 3001.9 was endorsed as an ANSI accredited standard for illumination systems.
2024-ICPSD24-0012 PERMANENT DESIGN OF POWER SYSTEMS Parise
This paper details primary considerations in estimating the life cycle of a campus medium voltage distribution grid. Some colleges and universities are selling their entire power grid to private companies. Mike has been following these transactions but cannot do it alone.
Variable Architecture Multi-Island Microgrids
District energy:
Generator stator winding failures and implications upon insurance premiums. David Shipp and Sergio Panetta. Mike suggests more coverage of retro-fit and lapsed life cycle technicals for insurance companies setting premiums.
Reliability:
Bob Arno’s leadership in updating the Gold Book.
Mike will expand the sample set in Table 10-35, page 293 from the <75 data points in the 1975 survey to >1000 data points. Bob will set up meeting with Peyton at US Army Corps of Engineers.
Reliability of merchant utility distribution systems remains pretty much a local matter. The 2023 Edition of the NESC shows modest improvement in the vocabulary of reliability concepts. For the 2028 Edition Mike submitted several proposals to at least reference IEEE titles in the distribution reliability domain. It seems odd (at least to Mike) that the NESC committees do not even reference IEEE technical literature such as Bob’s Gold Book which has been active for decades. Mike will continue to propose changes in other standards catalogs — such as ASTM, ASHRAE and ICC — which may be more responsive to best practice assertions. Ultimately, improvements will require state public utility commission regulations — and we support increases in tariffs so that utilities can afford these improvements.
Mike needs help from IEEE Piscataway on standard WordPress theme limitations for the data collection platform.
Mike will update the campus power outage database.
Healthcare:
Giuseppe Parise’s recent work in Italian power grid to its hospitals, given its elevated earthquake risk. Mike’s review of Giuseppe’s paper:
Harvard Business School: Journal of Healthcare Management Standards
Mike and David Shipp will prepare a position paper for the Harvard Healthcare Management Journal on reliability advantages of impedance grounding for the larger systems.
The Internet of Bodies
Forensics:
Giuseppe’s session was noteworthy for illuminating the similarity and differences between the Italian and US legal system in handling electrotechnology issues.
Mike will restock the committee’s library of lawsuits transactions.
Ports:
Giuseppe updates on the energy and security issues of international ports. Mike limits his time in this committee even though the State of Michigan has the most fresh water international ports in the world.
A PROPOSED GUIDE FOR THE ENERGY PLAN AND ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF A PORT
Other:
Proposals to the 2028 National Electrical Safety Code: Accepted Best Practice, exterior switchgear guarding, scope expansion into ICC and ASHRAE catalog,
Apparently both the Dot Standards and the Color Books will continue parallel development. Only the Gold Book is being updated; led by Bob Arno. Mike admitted confusion but reminded everyone that any references to IEEE best practice literature in the NFPA catalog, was installed Mike himself (who would like some backup help)
Papers in Process:
Impedance Grounding Papers 1 and 2 with David Shipp. Previous Discussion:
https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/ieee-region-events/uc-berkeley-s-medium-voltage-grounding-system
Over Coffee and Beers:
Mike assured Christel Hunter (General Cable) that his proposals for reducing the 180 VA per-outlet requirements, and the performance-base design allowance for building interior feeders do not violate the results of the Neher-McGrath calculation used for conductor sizing. All insulation and conducting material thermal limits are unaffected.
Other informal discussions centered on the rising cost of copper wiring and the implications for the global electrotechnical transformation involving the build out of quantum computing and autonomous vehicles. Few expressed optimism that government ambitions for the same could be met in any practical way.
Are students avoiding use of Chat GPT for energy conservation reasons? Mike will be breaking out this topic for a dedicated standards inquiry session:
Workspace IEEE 1366: Guide for Electric Power Distribution Reliability Indices
Largest U.S. Electric Utility Companies Ranked by Generation Capacity For IEEE 493 update we seek outage data from the 100 largest campus power system experts.
IAPMO develops codes and standards in collaboration with industry experts, government officials, and other stakeholders. These codes and standards are designed to promote public health, safety, and welfare by establishing minimum requirements for the design, installation, and maintenance of plumbing and mechanical systems.
FREE ACCESS: 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code
While the IAPMO catalog may be less well-known beyond its home waters the path through their periodic revision process is very transparent; one of the most transparent accredited standards developers in the land. We get to say that because there is no one else on earth that has been slicing horizontally through so many “domain silos” for so long. (We have practically created an original academic discipline).
For example:
The IAPMO ANSI-Accredited Development Process
2024 Uniform Plumbing Code Report on Proposals (1200 pages)
2022 Uniform Plumbind Code Report on Comments (1056 pages)
TENTATIVE – 2027 UPC/UMC CODE DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
We maintain the IAPMO catalog on our periodic Water 200/Water 400 colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
There were several barriers to the adoption of interior plumbing systems throughout history. Here are some of the key factors that contributed to the slow adoption of indoor plumbing:
Lack of technology: In the early days of plumbing, there was a lack of technological advancement, making it difficult to design and install effective plumbing systems. The development of new technologies such as water pumps, water heaters, and pipes made it easier to bring water into buildings and distribute it throughout the space.
High cost: Building indoor plumbing systems was a significant expense, and many people simply couldn’t afford it. Installing plumbing required digging trenches, installing pipes, and connecting to a reliable water source, all of which were expensive undertakings.
Health concerns: In the past, there were concerns about the safety and cleanliness of indoor plumbing systems. There was a fear that standing water in pipes could lead to the growth of bacteria and other harmful microorganisms, and that indoor plumbing could increase the risk of waterborne diseases.
Despite these barriers, the adoption of indoor plumbing systems slowly increased over time, as new technologies and innovations made it easier and more affordable to install plumbing in buildings. Today, indoor plumbing is considered an essential component of modern living, and is a standard feature in homes and buildings around the world.
Milestones:
Partial map of the Internet based on the January 15, 2005 data found on opte.org. Each line is drawn between two nodes, representing two IP addresses. The length of the lines are indicative of the delay between those two nodes. This graph represents less than 30% of the Class C networks reachable by the data collection program in early 2005. Lines are color-coded according to their corresponding RFC 1918 allocation
Today we refresh our understanding of energy-related best practice literature according to the topical tranches we have deployed since 2023:
Energy 200: Codes and standards for building premise energy systems. (Electrical, heating and cooling of the building envelope)
Energy 300: Codes and standards that support the energy systems required for information and communication technology
IEEE Energy Efficiency in Data Centers
ISO/IEC 30134 Series | CENELEC EN 50600 Series
ASHRAE 90.4 Energy Standard for Data Centers
ENERGY STAR Data Center Storage
European Code of Conduct for Data Centres Energy Efficiency
TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers
BICSI 002: Data Center Design and Implementation Best Practices, including energy management
Uptime Institute Annual Global Data Center Survey
Energy 400: Codes and standards for energy systems between campus buildings. (District energy systems including interdependence with electrical and water supply)
A different “flavor of money” runs through each of these domains and this condition is reflected in best practice discovery and promulgation. Energy 200 is less informed by tax-free (bonded) money than Energy 400 titles.
Some titles cover safety and sustainability in both interior and exterior energy domains so we simply list them below:
ASME A13.1 – 20XX, Scheme for the Identification of Piping Systems | Consultation closes 6/20/2023
ASME Boiler Pressure Vessel Code
ASME BPVC Codes & Standards Errata and Notices
ASHRAE International 90.1 — Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings
2018 International Green Construction Code® Powered by Standard 189.1-2017
NFPA 855 Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems
IEEE Electrical energy technical literature
ASTM Energy & Utilities Overview
Underwriters Laboratories Energy and Utilities
There are other ad hoc and open-source consortia that occupy at least a niche in this domain. All of the fifty United States and the Washington DC-based US Federal Government throw off public consultations routinely and, of course, a great deal of faculty interest lies in research funding.
Please join our daily colloquia using the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
ICYMI – here is our 50th anniversary lecture from Professor Helen Thompson on the 1970s energy crises and what we can learn from it, with some great questions from our audience! https://t.co/9XUqc3fx5f pic.twitter.com/zHvqY8HYL1
— Clare College (@ClareCollege) March 9, 2023
More
United States Department of Energy
International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook 2022
International Standardization Organization
Energy and heat transfer engineering in general
Economics of Energy, Volume: 4.9 Article: 48 , James L. Sweeney, Stanford University
Helmholtz and the Conservation of Energy, By Kenneth L. Caneva, MIT Press
NRG Provides Strategic Update and Announces New Capital Allocation Framework at 2023 Investor Day
From our video archive:
Ask me why pic.twitter.com/zQIpuI7vCh
— Grace Stanke (@Grace_Stanke) August 23, 2023
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwB pic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
— USPTO (@uspto) July 13, 2023
Standards Michigan Group, LLC
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