BRIEF HISTORY OF PLUMBING PRACTICE IN THE PHILIPPINES

• In 1902, the Plumbing Trade was duly recognized by the government in the City of

Manila. Master Plumber John F. Haas became the first Chief of the Division of

Plumbing Construction and Inspection. A Plumbing Code based on the Plumbing Code

of the United States was incorporated into the Building Code for the City of Manila.

• In 1935, the National Master Plumbers Association of the Philippines (NAMPAP) was

formally organized.

• Manila City Ordinance 2411, the “Plumbing Code of the City of Manila” was enacted

and placed under the Department of Public Services, Manila.

• In 1954, the Third Congress approved House Bill No. 962 which in June 18, 1955,

became R.A. 1378 “Plumbing Law of the Philippines” upon ratification of President

Ramon Magsaysay.

• On January 28, 1959, the National Plumbing Code of the Philippines prepared by

NAMPAP was promulgated and approved by Malacañang.

• Before Martial Law in 1972, Republic Act No. 6541 otherwise known as the “Building

Code of the Philippines” was passed with the “National Plumbing Code of 1959” as

referral code in full text.

• The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) adopted the Revised Plumbing

Code of 1999 which President Joseph Estrada approved December 21, 1999 pursuant

to Section 4 of R.A. 1378 known as the Plumbing Law.

ME 131 – Engineering Utilities 2 | Instructor: Engr. Karl Hendrix G. Lontoc 1

 TYPICAL PLUMBING SYSTEM OF A
TOILET AND BATH

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PERMITS

1. APPLICATION FOR PERMITS

➢ A Registered and Licensed Master Plumber shall file an application at the office of
the Building Official in behalf of the building owner: Application shall:

Identify & describe the plumbing work covered

Have the description of the land upon which the plumbing work is to be done

Indicate the use or occupancy

Be accompanied by plans, drawings, diagrams, computations, technical specifications, &

other pertinent data required by Administrative Authority

Be signed by the Owner or permittee

Be signed & sealed by the Registered & Licensed Master Plumber.

➢ Plans & Specifications:

All plumbing plans, drawings, diagrams, design analyses/computations as required,

technical specifications, bill of materials & other required documents for all types of
occupancy shall be prepared, signed & sealed by a Registered & Licensed Master
Plumber, without limitation pursuant to Republic Act 1378, as amended.

The above requirements shall be submitted in (6) sets.

2. PERMIT ISSUANCE

➢ The Administrative Authority may issue Partial Permit for the construction of a part of a
large and/or complicated plumbing system before the entire plans & specifications for
the whole system submitted or approved
➢ Expiration:

One (1) year from date of issuance

Within 120 days if the work is suspended or abandoned

ME 131 – Engineering Utilities 2 | Instructor: Engr. Karl Hendrix G. Lontoc 3

3. APPLICATION FOR EXISTING PLUMBING SYSTEM

➢ Additions, Alterations or Repairs

➢ Changes in Building Occupancy
➢ Maintenance
➢ Moved Buildings

4. INSPECTIONS

➢ General:

No portion of any plumbing system shall be concealed until inspected & approved

All Administrative Plumbing Personnel, Plumbing Inspector shall be a Registered

Licensed Master Plumber

➢ Inspection Request:

Shall be filed at least three (3) working days before such inspection is intended.

Shall be in writing & jointly signed by Owner & the Registered and Licensed Master
Plumber-Contractor.

ME 131 – Engineering Utilities 2 | Instructor: Engr. Karl Hendrix G. Lontoc 4

LESSON 2: WATER & HUMAN NEEDS

Water is often called the universal solvent since it dissolves so many compounds. Water
plays an important part in the plumbing system. It is a common, but in many ways, an unusual
liquid. Large quantities of water are required in buildings for personal use, food preparation,
cleaning and general domestic purposes, and possibly also for firefighting, laundries, swimming
pools, irrigation and recreational use. We sometimes tend to think of water as an inexhaustible
natural resource. However, our supply of fresh water is definitely limited, and improved
conservation practices are necessary if our needs are to be supplied. Water begins to freeze at 0
degrees centigrade and boils at 100 degrees centigrade. Water makes up 60 – 70 % of the human
body or about 40 liters. The biosphere contains water and cannot exist without it.

Oceans and seas cover 70% of the planet's surface. The remaining 30% are land, but water
can be found here as well in lakes and rivers, in the soil cover, underground and bound up in the
composition of minerals of the Earth's crust and core. The 70% is distributed as follows:

1. Salt Water – 67%

2. Fresh Water – 3% (2% frozen in the polar ice caps, 1% global water source)

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS OF WATER

1. Nourishment – for drinking and cooking

2. Cleaning & Hygiene – for bathing, laundry and dishwashing
3. Livelihood Use – for farming and irrigation
4. Protective Use – for firefighting
5. Ornamental Use – for Landscaping
6. Recreational Use – for Swimming and Boating

WATER QUANTITY

Water Quantity is the amount of water available to meet desired need. They are as follows:

1. Drinking – 2-3 liters/person/day

2. Bathing/Personal Hygiene – 80 liters/person/day
3. Laundry – 53 liters/person/day

ME 131 – Engineering Utilities 2 | Instructor: Engr. Karl Hendrix G. Lontoc 5

 4. Dishwashing – 53 liters/person/day
5. Fire Protection – 1,892 liters/minute

WATER QUALITY

Water quality is determined by physical, chemical, radiological and biological properties

of water. These water quality characteristics throughout the world are characterized with wide
variability. Therefore, the quality of natural water sources used for different purposes should be
established in terms of the specific water-quality parameters that most affect the possible use of
water. That is why the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of water quality characteristics
- Physical, Chemical, Radiological, and Biological characteristics.

WATER DEMAND

DEMAND REQUIREMENT
Must be pure, sterilized and protected from
Drinking, Cooking, Dishwashing contamination. Supplies taken direct from
mains or from exclusive storage.
Similar but moderated to allow cold and
hot supplies to be drawn from main
Personal Washing and Domestic Cleaning
storage tank or cistern via distribution
network.
Generally clean and wholesome, soft and
Laundry
free form Iron and Manganese staining.
High Pressure. Connections must not
Fire Fighting
permit contamination of mains water.
Clean, filtered and sterilized with free
Swimming chlorine residue for post-sterilization. Can
be recirculated.
Soft treated water, stored and circulated
Boilers and Heating Plants
separate from domestic supplies.
Irrigation No special requirement, except reasonably

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 free from solids and slit (result in blocked
Pipes and nozzles)

For use in a building, the water supply must meet a minimum level of quality or maximum
permissible level based on the following:

1. Physical Characteristics
Physical characteristics of water are determined by senses of touch, sight, smell and
taste. For example, temperature by touch, color, floating debris, turbidity and suspended
solids by sight, and taste and odor by smell.

a. Turbidity - is a measure of the light-transmitting properties of water and is comprised of

suspended and colloidal material. It is important for health and aesthetic reasons.

b. Color - Color in water is primarily a concern of water quality for aesthetic reason.
Colored water gives the appearance of being unfit to drink, even though the water may
be perfectly safe for public use. On the other hand, color can indicate the presence of
organic substances, such as algae. More recently, color has been used as a
quantitative assessment of the presence of potentially hazardous or toxic organic
materials in water.

c. Taste and Odor - Taste and odor are human perceptions of water quality. Human
perception of taste includes sour (hydrochloric acid), salty (sodium chloride), sweet
(sucrose) and bitter (caffeine). Relatively simple compounds produce sour and salty
tastes. However sweet and bitter tastes are produced by more complex organic
compounds. Human detect many more tips of odor than tastes. Organic materials
discharged directly to water, such as falling leaves, runoff, etc., are sources of tastes
and odor-producing compounds released during biodegradation.

d. Temperature - The temperature of water affects some of the important physical

properties and characteristics of water: thermal capacity, density, specific weight,
viscosity, surface tension, specific conductivity, salinity and solubility of dissolved

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 gases and etc. Chemical and biological reaction rates increase with increasing
temperature. Reaction rates usually assumed to double for an increase in temperature
of 10 °C. The temperature of water in streams and rivers throughout the world varies
from 0 to 35 °C.

2. Chemical Characteristics
a. Hardness
Hardness is correlated with TDS (Total dissolved solids). It represents total
concentration of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions, and is reported in equivalent CaCO3. Hardness
expressed as mg/L CaCO3 is used to classify waters from "soft" to "very hard". This
classification is summarized in the Table.

Hardness as mg/L CaCO3 Classification

0 - 60 Soft
61 - 120 Moderately hard
121 - 180 Hard
>180 Very hard

b. Acidity
Acidity indicates the corrosiveness of acidic water on steel, concrete and other
materials.
c. Alkalinity
Alkalinity is defined as the capacity of natural water to neutralize acid added to it. Total
alkalinity is the amount of acid required to reach a specific pH (pH = 4,3 to 4,8).
d. Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved oxygen is important in natural water because many microorganisms and
fish require it in aquatic system. Typical dissolved oxygen concentrations observed in
streams and rivers throughout the world are 3 to 9 mg/l.
e. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
The chemical oxygen demand (COD) test of natural water yields the oxygen equivalent
of the organic matter that can be oxidized by strong chemical oxidizing agent in an
acidic medium.

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 3. Biological & Radiological Characteristics
a. Presence of Coliform bacteria
b. Presence of Pathogenic bacteria
c. Presence of Radioactive materials

SOME WATER QUALITY PROBLEMS AND THEIR CORRECTION

PROBLEM CAUSE EFFECT CORRECTION

Contains carbon Corrosion of Passing the water
dioxide. Cistern and nonferrous through a bed of
pond waters pipes, crushed marble or
1. Acidity
containing decaying rusting and limestone to achieve
vegetation is likely to clogging alkalinity, or adding
be acidic. of steel pipes. sodium silicate.
Clogging of
pipes. Introduction of water
Presence of
Impaired softeners made up
2. Hardness Magnesium and
laundering of Zeolite (a greenish
Calcium.
and food granular material).
preparation.
3. Turbidity – the Silt or suspended
degree of matters picked up in Discoloration
and Filtration
cloudiness or surface or near bad taste.
muddiness of water. surface flow.
4. Color – can be
Discoloration Precipitation by
measured through
Presence of Iron of filtration through
visual comparison of
and Manganese fixtures and manganese zeolite
the sample to the
Laundry (oxidizing filter)
distilled water.
Contamination by
5. Pollution Disease Chlorination
organic matter or

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 sewage
Presence of algae,
decomposing organic
6. Taste – pure water Water treatment
matter, dissolved Bad taste
is tasteless process
gases & phenolic
substances

TERMS USED TO DESCRIBE WATER QUALITY

1. Salt Water – contains at least 3% salt.

2. Fresh Water – water having a salt concentration below 0.01%.

3. Brackish Water – is a mixture of fresh and salt water, typically found where rivers enter the
ocean.

4. Soft Water- is relatively free of minerals that cause soap to precipitate causing scale buildup.

5. Black Water- water drained from water closets and urinals; carries body wastes and contains
major pollutants.

6. Gray Water- water drained from lavatories, sink, laundry trays and showers; contains minor
pollutants.

7. Polluted Water- water that contains one or more impurities that make the water unsuitable for
a desired use.

8. Purified Water- water that undergoes a process where the pollutants are removed or rendered
harmless.

9. Storm Water- rainwater drained from roof gutters and downspouts.

ME 131 – Engineering Utilities 2 | Instructor: Engr. Karl Hendrix G. Lontoc 10

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

The total amount of water on Earth is invariable. At the same time water is continuously
renewed while circulating between oceans, land and atmosphere. All processes
like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, interception, transpiration, infiltration, percolation,
runoff, groundwater flow, which keep water in motion constitute the hydrologic cycle. Those
processes are stimulated by solar energy. They take place simultaneously and, except for
precipitation, continuously.

Evaporation - Emission of water vapor by a free surface at a temperature below the boiling point.
Through evaporation water leaves the land and oceans, rising into atmosphere.

Condensation - The change in water phase, from a vapor state into a liquid state.

Precipitation - Liquid or solid products of the condensation of water vapor falling from clouds or
deposited from the air on the ground. For example, rain, sleet, snow, hail.

Interception - The process by which precipitation is caught and held by vegetation (canopy and
litter structures) then may be lost by evaporation without reaching the ground.

Transpiration - The process by which water from vegetation is transferred into the atmosphere in
the form of vapor.

Infiltration - The process of entry of water into a soil through the soil surface.

Percolation – The process of filtering infiltered water through soil particles and porous materials.

Runoff - The part of precipitation that flows towards the stream on the ground surface (surface
runoff) or within the soil (subsurface runoff).

Groundwater flow - Movement of water in an aquifer. It is considerably slower than surface runoff.
Groundwater flows until reaches lakes, rivers or oceans.

ME 131 – Engineering Utilities 2 | Instructor: Engr. Karl Hendrix G. Lontoc 11

 HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

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HYDRAULICS

Hydraulics is known as the science of water. It is a field of study concerned with utilizing
the properties of water, in particular the way they flow and transmit pressure, with the application
of these properties in plumbing engineering.

Hydraulics is categorized as to:

a. Hydrostatics – the science of water at rest.

b. Hydrokinetics – the science of water in motion.
c. Hydrodynamics – the science of the force exerted by water in motion.

General Physical Properties of Water

1. Water Level – water always takes the shape of its container to the limit of its volume and
tends to find its own level.
2. Mass – is the amount of matter in a body. It remains constant regardless of where the
body is in the universe. For water, a volume of one liter at a temperature of 4 degrees
centigrade has a mass of one kilogram and may be contained in 1 cubic decimeter.
3. Force – is that which changes the state of rest or the uniform motion of a body. The
equation of force is :
Force = Mass x Acceleration. In other words, when a mass of 1 kg is under the standard
acceleration of 9.81m/sec2 , a gravitational force of 9.81 newtons is acting on it.
4. Head – “Head” in water is measured vertically from the free surface of the liquid to the
point at which pressure is being calculated. A head of water of 1 meter produces a
pressure on its base of 9810 N/m2 or 9.81 kPa. It should be noted that head is the only
factor that decides intensity of pressure, not the voume of water in the pipe.
5. Capillarity – commonly known as capillary action, is a phenomenon in which liquid
spontaneously rises or falls in a narrow space such as a thin tube or in the voids of a
porous material.

ME 131 – Engineering Utilities 2 | Instructor: Engr. Karl Hendrix G. Lontoc 13