The plumbing in your home has a long and slow-developing history. What started out as basically small open-air pathways that would funnel water to parts of ancient cities (aqueducts) has culminated in tubing and piping made from plastics and alloys which can pump water up 100+ floors in the world’s tallest skyscrapers.
Quite amazingly, much of the forces behind today’s plumbing are what they were thousands of years ago. Those forces are gravity and water pressure. When you flush your toilet, it uses the force of gravity to do so. The tank is replenished from water pressure being created at a pump station. But not all that long ago that pressure was also from the gravity of a water tower.
The future of plumbing will also use these two forces. Why fix it if it ain’t broke? However, on demand water heating and more efficient systems is what is in store for the future plumbing user. “We have seen a big change in the last 10 years or so,” says Jake, who is a plumber in Melbourne, Florida. “many more people are ordering tankless water heaters and super low flow toilets. That is where modern tech has led us. The overall goal in plumbing now is to prevent using too much water and wasting energy.”
There is no telling what the next wave of plumbing evolution will be once the industry has created a system that is as efficient as humanly possible. Maybe it will involve something far out like the “3 seashells” from the movie “Demolition Man”. It is something we can only use our imagination to dream up. As for 2024 and the immediate future, plumbing is focused on efficiency and heated water on demand.
