Industry Night: It happens only every two years: Industry Appreciation Night, which will take place at the beautiful Granite Links Golf Club in Quincy on Friday, September 26. A great speaker, comedian Mike McDonald--and someone will win a Caribbean vacation. Look for invitation in your mail, or call us.

Grey water: New regs from the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will supplement grey water regs in the plumbing code. DEP will oversee the operation of grey water systems once they go on line. Among other things, they will check fecal coliform content.

Worldwide Water: The demand for clean water is growing rapidly, all around the world. Companies like GE, Siemens Water and others are finding great business opportunities. Expanding populations and industrial usage mean that water demands will increase an amazing 40% worldwide by 2025.

Most Famous Character: The New York Times has officially stated that the world¹s most famous fictional characterŠrivaled only by Mickey MouseŠis a plumber. He¹s Mario, the mustached Italian plumber, who is famous from his role in Nintendo games. After gaining fame in Super-Mario, the sturdy, energetic Mario (who is rarely seen carrying a wrench) is back in the new Nintendo Wii in which he leads, among other things, an interactive baseball game called Mario Super Sluggers. With the new Wii, you don¹t just sit on a couch. You get up, you swingŠyou do yoga. Mario is a pretty friendly guyŠalways an optimist. He was created by a Japanese computer game developer named Miyamoto.

Kudos to Plumbers: There may be a reason that Mario the plumber is a hero. British Medical Journal last year voted sanitation as the greatest medical milestone ever--over penicillin and anesthesia. Recent The New York Times piece argued that best way to help billions of poor people in the world is sanitation and plumbing.

Congratulations! To the 32 recent graduates of the Local 12 Apprentice Program. The program is overseen by a joint board of Local 12 and PHCC of Greater Boston members.

Star Apprentice: Special congratulations to Local 12 Apprentice Gregg Petersen who won the Northeast Regional apprentice competition in plumbing. The contest was held at Local 51 in Providence. Testing involved blueprint reading, layout, rigging, and assembly of plumbing of systems. Gregg will take part in the UA¹s National Competition in Michigan in August. Gregg is employed by D.R. Howard Company of Revere. He was also recently honored with an award for his work assisting other apprentices.

Licenses: Some think that professional trade licenses are unnecessary, that people should be allowed the freedom to practice any trade they wish, without a license. But consider the latest crane collapse, at an oil refinery in Houston. This involved a huge crane capable of lifting 1 million pounds. Four were killed. Texas, like 34 other states, does not require crane operators to be licensed. In that state, 26 people died in crane accidents in 2005 and 2006. Maybe they should consider licensing.

Continuing Education: As of April, eleven groups were reportedly approved by the State Board to provide continuing education of plumbers. IAPMO (Gordon MacEwan¹s organization -- The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials) will be conducting classes at Local 12. The PHCC of Mass. will also offer classes. Organizations on Cape Cod and in Cambridge have also been approved.

Grandfathered: If you are interested in doing fuel gas work in New Hampshire, you may be eligible to obtain a grandfathered fuel gas license. Call 603-271-3294.

Museum: The new Plumbing Museum, located in a building at the J.C. Cannistraro Company in Watertown, is getting more and more press. Contractor Magazine featured a story on the inside cover of its July issueŠThe museum has an impressive new website: The Plumbing Museum. Grand opening scheduled for November. A member of the Kohler family has agreed to serve on the board.

Permits: Nationally, there was a rise in building permits in June--but this was caused by a fluke. New York City was scheduled to implement a new, tougher building code on July 1, and builders there filed a massive number of permit applications--enough to skew the nationwide statistics. Adjusting for the NYC statistics, permits still managed a slight .7% increase.

Barack Endorsement: If Barack Obama becomes president, he is not likely to forget that the first national union to endorse him was the United Association--the national plumbers union. The head of the union, Bill Hite, is also from Chicago. Hite has been a fan of Obama for many years.

U-Mass Bids: Our state university has avoided the public bid requirements that are intended to apply to all public construction. U-Mass argues that it gets its money from ³student fees² rather than tuition, and says it gets better construction when GC¹s pick subs. This approach is strongly opposed by most subs, and the Associated Subcontractors of MassŠOver $3 billion in construction is expected at the five U-Mass campuses in the coming years. California Buildings: That state has adopted a first in the nation ³green building code.² New standards will apply to single-family homes, health facilities, and commercial buildings and will encourage builders to reduce energy use to 15 percent below the state's current mandatory energy efficiency standards.

Chinese Pipe: The International Trade Commission has ruled that China has been ³dumping² subsidized, cheap steel pipe into the US market. It will now allow US to charge import duties of as much as 616%. Could mark major change in US-China trade relations. Will help our manufacturers, but also drive up costs.

New York Cement: In July, most of New York City¹s largest construction projects were brought to a temporary halt by a strike of 400 union cement truck drivers. Many workers from other trades got an extended 4th of July, because of lack of concrete.

Union Pensions: 79% of unionized workers have defined-benefit pension plans, compared to 16% of non-union workers.

Tough Economy: The harsh residential market continues to hammer small builders, and renovation work has not yet picked up the slack, though in New England there is a lot of work for residential plumbers doing conversion from oil to gasŠSome reports say 2% of homeowners nationwide face foreclosures.

Building Boom? Despite the gloomy national economy, major general contractors in Boston have been doing well. According to the Boston Business Journal (BBJ) eight of the state¹s top 10 construction companies saw their local billings increase in the past year. The reason: When the general economy is tough, universities and hospitals continue to spend. And in Massachusetts, biotech is still going strong.
Example: A California company is proposing to build a massive 15.7 acre lab and office campus near Met Pipe in East Cambridge.

Thermometers: The state has a new incentive program to keep mercury from thermostats out of landfills. If you are removing an old mercury thermostat, contact Convanta Energy.