In Tap Talk’s 58th episode, Dr. Andrew Whelton of Purdue University visits to discuss plumbing and water system safety in buildings. Dr. Whelton is the lead of Purdue’s Center for Plumbing Safety, and among many duties, he explores solutions at the intersection of water infrastructure and public health. Listen to learn about how plumbing affects water quality, how the COVID pandemic rocked the water systems of unpopulated buildings, how to keep your office’s water system safe, and more.
Topics Discussed
- Meet Andrew Whelton
- Andrew’s Water Hero: Dr. Michael McGuire, expert in drinking water quality improvement and the control of trace water contaminants
- How plumbing affects water quality
- Differences in plumbing between houses and city buildings, & city water and private wells
- What don’t responsible entities consider in their buildings’ plumbing?
- PlumbingSafety.org and the Center for Plumbing Safety
- The “Most Monitored Home in America”
- The effects of COVID on plumbing and water quality
- How to take care of an office building’s water system
- Connect with Andrew
“Not all contaminants or chemicals or microorganisms that reach your faucet are harmful. There’s a whole bunch of chemical microbiological complexity inside the water in your house that you can’t see.”
Andrew Whelton
Go Further
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About the Guest
Dr. Andrew Whelton is a professor of civil, environmental, and ecological engineering at Purdue University. He also leads the Healthy Plumbing Consortium and the Center for Plumbing Safety at Purdue, and has over 20 years of experience in the realm of infrastructure, public health, and the environment. He and his teams also work on research linking human health risks and plastic manufacturing, the impacts of COVID-19 on water system safety, and providing direct support for communities hit by disasters, particularly wildfires.
Dr. Whelton has previously worked at the National Institute of Standards & Technology and as an assistant professor at the University of South Alabama. He holds three degrees from Virginia Tech University: a BS in Civil Engineering, an MS in Environmental Engineering, and a PhD in Civil Engineering.