Federal Flood Risk Management Standard
Floods bring substantial debris along and this exacerbates the flooding. Daan Poppema and his students replicate this in our new outdoor campus flume, measuring the rise when debris blocks the bridge.
💡The future results can enhance our preparedness for future flood events. pic.twitter.com/k5vWvRqBvp
— TU Delft (@tudelft) August 11, 2023
“The Bathing Pool” / Hubert Robert (French, 1733–1808) / Gift of J.P. Morgan
2024 Uniform Swimming Pool, Spa and Hot Tub Code
The IAPMO code development process is one of the best in the land. Its Read-Only Access — needed for light research — is also the best in the land; unlike other ANSI accredited standards developers (who shall be un-named). The current edition is dated 2024, with the 2027 revision accepted public input until March 3, 2025 according the schedule linked below:
2027 USPSHTC Code Development Calendar
Related:
Exploration of the Theory of Electric Shock Drowning
Jesse Kotsch – Brandon Prussak – Michael Morse – James Kohl
Abstract: Drowning due to electric shock is theorized to occur when a current that is greater than the “let go” current passes through a body of water and conducts with the human body. Drowning would occur when the skeletal muscles contract and the victim can no longer swim. It is theorized that the likelihood of receiving a deadly shock in a freshwater environment (such as a lake) is higher than the likelihood in a saltwater environment (such as a marina). It is possible that due to the high conductivity of salt water, the current shunts around the individual, while in freshwater, where the conductivity of the water is lower than that of the human; a majority of the current will travel through the individual. The purpose of this research is to either validate or disprove these claims. To address this, we used Finite Element analysis in order to simulate a human swimming in a large body of water in which electric current has leaked from a 120V source. The conductivity of the water was varied from .005 S/m (pure water) up to 4.8 S/m (salt water) and the current density through a cross sectional area of the human was measured. With this research, we hope to educate swimmers on the best action to take if caught in such a situation.
CLICK HERE to order complete paper.
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.
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:
“Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.”
— Henry Fielding “Love in Several Masques (Act IV, Scene 11)”
Simnel Cake: British Food History
“Der Alchemist” c. 1908 Max Fuhrmann
We use European Norm 15154-1 and 15154-2 to enlighten differences about laboratory risk is managed among different nations — specifically between the United States and Europe. The education industry has many instructional, research and healthcare settings in which laboratory chemicals are routinely used. The laboratories specifically, are significant revenue generators in research universities. We contribute to leading practice discovery for any technology that reduces risk to people and property. As we are classified as a “user-interest” in the global standards systems; we are also attentive to budget risk.
The European Norm documents are developed as a pair as shown below:
EN 15154-1 Emergency safety showers – Part 1: Plumbed-in body showers for laboratories – This document is a product specification, giving performance requirements for emergency safety body showers connected to the water supply. It is applicable to plumbed-in body showers only, located in laboratory facilities. It is not applicable to emergency safety showers used on industrial sites or in other such areas. Requirements are given in respect of the performance, installation, adjustment and marking of the showers as well as installation, operation and maintenance instructions to be given by the manufacturer. NOTE Attention is drawn to national regulations which may apply in respect of the installation and use of emergency safety showers.
EN 15154-2 Emergency safety showers – Part 2: Plumbed-in eye wash units – This document is a product specification, giving performance requirements for emergency safety eye wash units connected to the water supply. It is applicable to plumbed-in eye wash units only. Requirements are given in respect of the performance, installation, adjustment and marking of the eye wash units, as well as installation, operation and maintenance instructions to be given by the manufacturer. NOTE Attention is drawn to national regulations which may apply in respect of the installation and use of eye wash units.
The current version is dated 2006; to best of our knowledge (though there may be local adaptions that are dated later). The European Committee for Standardization website may contain more information about status and developmental trajectory. The International Organization for Standardization also administers two technical committees (ISO/TC 48 and ISO/TC212) also involved in laboratory safety and sustainability concepts.
We do not advocate user-interest safety and sustainability concepts in this pair of standards at the moment. However, we do use EN 15154 et. al, for comparative purposes; setting it against the prevailing United State standard produced by the International Safety Equipment Association — ISEA 358.1-2014 Emergency Eyewash and Shower Standard.
We track public consultations on this topic during our periodic Laboratory and Water 200 colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next online teleconference; open to everyone.
Issue: [13-28] [15-271] [19-155]
Category: International, Laboratory Safety, Mechanical, Plumbing,
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Mark Schaufele, Richard Robben
“A flood is nature’s way of telling you
that you live in the wrong place.”
— Some guy
‘It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade’ ☀️❄️
– Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861) pic.twitter.com/1RJADJDCna— Trinity Library (@TrinCollLibCam) March 3, 2025
Northwestern University Waterfront | State University of New York Oswego
Water standards make up a large catalog and it will take most of 2023 to untangle the titles, the topics, proposals, rebuttals and resolutions. When you read our claim that since 1993 we have created a new academic discipline we would present the best practice literature of the world’s water standards as just one example.
During the Water 200 session we reckon with best practices inside buildings. During the Water 400 session will run through water management outside buildings, including interface with regional water management systems.
Water safety and sustainability standards have been on the Standards Michigan agenda since the early 2000’s. Some of the concepts we have tracked over the years; and contributed data, comments and proposals to technical committees, are listed below:
Water 400
Water 300
Water 200
Since 2016 we have tracked other water-related issues:
Relevant federal legislation:
Send bella@standardsmichigan.com an email to request a more detailed advance agenda. To join the conversation use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
More
IAPMO Publishes U.S., Canadian Standard for Detection, Monitoring, Control of Plumbing Systems
"The Great Archimedes"
Baylor University Presshttps://t.co/jbaGIt5tqW@Baylor_Press@BaylorECS pic.twitter.com/4FbcZqLPrQ— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) August 4, 2020
Which Australian beaches are microplastic hot-spots? Research from Macquarie University’s AUSMAP project can help you to find low pollution beaches: https://t.co/JK43XMuAIL #microplastics #AustralianBeaches #plasticpollution @AUSMAP_AU pic.twitter.com/FZDgsAZ0Gz
— Macquarie University (@Macquarie_Uni) January 21, 2022
More
Solitude Lake Management for Universities and Colleges
“Spring Night, Harlem River” 1913 Earnest Lawson
Many school districts, colleges and universities are affected by annual spring flooding in the Central United States; seasonal inspiration for revisiting the technical and management codes and standards to avoid and/or mitigate water damages that may be originate with host municipality water supply and control authorities.
The standards developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and its affiliate institute — Environmental Water Resource Institute (EWRI) — should appear in the design guidelines given to professional services firms retained by the facility construction, operations and maintenance workgroups. We encourage our colleagues in these units to update their design guidelines with the latest versions of the documents linked below:
ASCE/EWRI 56: Guidelines for the Physical Security of Water Utilities. These water utility guidelines recommend physical and electronic security measures for physical protection systems to protect against identified adversaries, referred to as the design basis threats (DBTs), with specified motivation, tools, equipment, and weapons.
ASCE/EWRI 57: Guidelines for the Physical Security of Wastewater/Stormwater Utilities. These wastewater/stormwater utilities guidelines recommend physical and electronic security measures for physical protection systems to protect against identified adversaries, referred to as the design basis threats (DBTs), with specified motivation, tools, equipment, and weapons. Additional requirements and security equipment may be necessary to defend against threats with greater capabilities.
Note that these documents are “paired” for the obvious reason that potable water systems must be separate from all other water systems.
No redlines that are in the upper tier of our priority rankings are open for public comment at this time; though there are two that might interest building contractors:
Standards currently accepting Public Comments include:
Public Comment for ASCE-SEI 24 Flood Resistant Design and Construction (Comment Deadline 9/26/24)
Public Comment for ASCE/SEI 32-01 Design and Construction of Frost-Protected Shallow Foundations (Comment Deadline 8/05/2024
Public Comment on ASCE 7-22 Supplement for Chapter 5 (Comment Deadline 1-15-2023)
Public Comment on ASCE 7-22 Supplement for Referenced Standards (Comment Deadline 1-15-2023)
We encourage direct engagement by education industry leaders, their engineering consultants, or municipal water management experts to participate in the development of these standards through the ASCE standards portal:
ASCE Standards Public Comment Page
You will need to set up an access account. You may also communicate directly with the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1801 Alexander Bell Dr., Reston, VA 20191. Contact: James Neckel (jneckel@asce.org).
We keep water-related ASCE titles on the standing agenda of our Water colloquium. See our CALENDAR for the next teleconference; open to everyone.
Issue: [18-52]
Category: Civil Engineering, Water, #SmartCampus
Colleagues: Jack Janveja, Richard Robben, Steve Snyder, Larry Spielvogel
LEARN MORE:
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
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