Jennifer Smith, of Conwy Valley Plumbing, takes a look at the evolution of plumbing and some of the technological advances that make installers' lives that little bit easier.

Plumbing is an important part of everyday life. Without easy access to water and the inability to deal with waste, we’d have a multitude of problems. It’s amazing just how far we’ve progressed when it comes to plumbing, and the future has a lot in store for us.


It was both the Greeks and Romans that set the modern standards we expect today. They used plumbing to transport clean water into their cities, as well as getting dirty water out. The Romans created a series of aqueducts filled with lead piping – something that was revolutionary at the time.


It’s thanks to the famous Roman bathhouses of yesteryear that plumbing exists. Mistakes they made have allowed us to learn and adapt sufficiently. As an example, Romans believed that water in a bath only needed to be changed once a day, not realising how diseases could spread.


These days you won’t find lead pipes due to their toxicity. Instead we use copper, brass, steel or plastic. All of these materials are easy to maintain and aren’t toxic, which is why they are used so often. We’ve come a long way from the Romans and Greeks, and there are a few different technological advances, which help to make plumbing even easier than before:


It’s easy to see that in the future we can expect plenty of technological advances in the world of plumbing. It’s definitely an exciting time, and now we simply have to wait to see what the future holds.