St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones signs updated uniform plumbing code for the City

Code last updated in 2009

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief

Flanked by members and officers of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones signed a bill Feb. 21 bringing the City up to date with the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code.

The city’s plumbing code was last updated in 2009. An effort to update the code in 2021 was defeated in a tie vote in the Board of Aldermen amid a fight to implement the international plumbing code over the uniform code.

Board Bill 182 brings the City’s code up to date with the Uniform Code used in most of the rest of the region.

NEEDED TO BE DONE
“It was something that needed to be done,” said Local 562 Business Manager John O’Mara.

“You drive around town and see all these cranes, all this work being done, it’s good to see that the City is taking the initiative to update all their codes and make sure all these jobs are done the way they should be done,” he said.

Local 562 apprentices and journeymen are educated on the plumbing codes as part of their training, O’Mara said. Having the uniform code, he said, sets a standard for work in the City.

“It makes it that much simpler to know what code you’re working under when you go to work,” O’Mara said of Local 562’s journeymen and apprentices. “They’re prepared for it. And certainly our journeymen are ready for it. They’ve been through a lot of the codes. It’s not just that, it’s all about safety in the City and having proper plumbing put in these buildings.”

INDUSTRY STANDARD
Mayor Jones echoed that sentiment in the bill signing ceremony at City Hall.

“We’ve had several conversations about this issue,” Jones said. “I think it’s just about being fair, making sure that our plumbing codes are up-to-date. That makes things safer for everyone as you talk about what goes through our pipes, what gives us fresh water. We want to make sure our plumbing codes are up to standard and that there’s no more confusion.”

Alderman Bret Narayan (W-24) sponsored Board Bill 182 updating the code.

“This brings us back into parity with what we see in other parts of the region,” Narayan said. “We had some dueling plumbing codes at the Board of Aldermen for some time, but this is the plumbing code that the men and women with their boots on the ground getting the work done prefer. This is the industry standard.”