Commercial drone use has been rapidly increasing in the construction for years now but somehow the plumbing sector has been slow to catch on. Drones can be used to detect plumbing problems without damaging walls, ground, or crawl spaces. Drone cameras can be utilized to survey areas that are hard for humans to navigate but easy for small drones such as between walls or small basements/crawl spaces. Or infrared technology can be utilized to detect the slight change in temperature that occurs when leaking water evaporates behind walls or even underground. 

The benefits of using drones to detect leaks are obvious. Less guesswork for plumbers means less destruction while looking for a problem and a quicker turnaround time for fixing the issue. If you’re considering using a drone to enhance your business make sure you are following FAA guidelines for commercial drones. All commercial drone pilots must possess a Remote Pilot in Command Certificate which can be obtained by passing the FAA Remote Pilot in Command Exam.

Step 1: Pay the $5 fee and register any aircraft that weighs more than 0.55lbs.
Step 2:  Pass the $150 Small UAS Remote Pilot Exam – exam prep is available here.
Step 3: Pass a TSA background check
Step 4: File FAA Form 8710-13

Check out our Complete Guide to Commercial Drone Use for more information.

Hemlock trees used to be some of the most common and largest trees in the North Carolina mountains. Unfortunately, the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid is threatening the continued existence of these beautiful trees. The pest is native to Asia but has been spreading throughout the east coast since it was first found in Virginia in 1950.

The Pest
Adelgids are small, less than 1/16th of an inch long and vary in color from dark red to purple. As the insect matures it produces a wool-like wax covering to protect itself and its eggs from predators and prevent them from drying out. This wool-like covering is the most obvious sign of infestation. 

Damage
 The trees typically die within 4 to 10 years of infestation in the north and only 3 to 6 years in southern states. The insects are usually located near the bark towards the base of the needles. The adelgids insert their piercing-sucking mouthparts into the base of needles and removing plant fluids. Moderate infestations reduce tree health, severe infestations cause premature needle drop, dieback, and finally death of trees.

Treatment
The best time to manage this pest is late September through October. Registered insecticides can prove effective against overwintering females and a mid-to-late June application can reduce the number of developing nymphs. Early spring soil injections near large trees can also prove effective.

The Construction Contractors Board (CCB) requires contractors display their CCB license number on almost all promotional and business materials. Homeowners use these numbers to verify the license of contractors before hiring them. Failing to provide CCB numbers on required materials will not only result in a $400 fine, it will also result in the loss of business as many homeowners will not hire a contractor they cannot verify. The letters CCB must precede license numbers, for example, CCB #133456.

License numbers are required on:

• Written bids
• Business cards
• Advertising (websites, telephone book, newspaper, radio and tv ads)
• Building-related contracts
• Business letterhead
• Written inspection reports
• Business signs at construction sites
• Business vehicles with signage

NOTE: CCB numbers are encouraged but not required on items where they are not practical. For example, pens, pencils, refrigerator magnets etc.

The Houston area is expecting a major increase in their mosquito population as water left over from the hurricane recedes and forms pools in low areas. The Director of the Mosquito Control Division for Harris County’s Health Department expects mosquito populations to increase drastically a week or two after the hurricane water recedes. This influx is especially worrying because the West Nile Virus was already present in Houston before the floods.

Harris County plans to spray affected areas continuously until mosquito populations return to normal. Residents are being asked to drain any standing pools of water in their yards that may have formed in tires, kid pools, and even dog bowls. Residents are also encouraged to place mosquito donuts in any standing water that cannot be drained. The donuts kill larvae but do not harm anything else in the area.

DO YOU NEED CONTINUING EDUCATION TO RENEW YOUR APPLICATOR LICENSE?

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Modern plumbing has helped humanity to eradicate a wide variety of diseases including polio, cholera, and typhoid fever. Before plumbing was widely available, it was a common belief in Europe that getting wet would cause illness. This thought process carried over to the America and persisted into the mid-1800s. In fact, Boston outlawed bathing without a medical directive in 1845.

Worse than this aversion to bathing, human waste was often thrown into the street or yard. This lack of sanitation caused urban areas to fill with rats and other vermin, making a perfect breeding ground for disease. The Black Plague killed between 75 million to 200 million people- amounting to 1/3 of Europe’s population.

Polio
Polio’s natural home is in fecal matter. While vaccines are often given most of the credit for today’s lack of polio, plumbing also played a huge role. Many look to India for a comparison of plumbing v. vaccination. There have been several large campaigns to vaccinate Indians against Polio which has greatly lowered outbreaks of the disease. However, sanitation is still a large problem in the country, with a huge portion of the population unable to afford modern plumbing and the disease persists to a greater degree than other vaccinated countries with modern plumbing.

Cholera
Throughout the 1800s London had very poor water infrastructure. Most people used town pumps or communal wells for drinking water and waste was disposed of in open pits also known as “cesspools” or in the Thames River. Unfortunately, the Thames River was also the main source for town pumps and communal wells. Cholera works quickly on infected individuals, causing vomiting or diarrhea and proving fatal within a few hours of the first symptoms. In a small suburb of London, there were more than 500 fatal cases of cholera in just 10 days.

The Cholera problem persisted for years because doctors believed it was carried in the air until Dr. John Snow hypothesized that it came from water. Dr. Snow traced the cholera outbreaks to a particular pump and he had the handle removed. The Cholera outbreaks stopped immediately after this. The outbreak was later traced back to a mother cleaning a dirty diaper in the well.

Typhoid Fever
Chicago’s problems with typhoid fever began as the population grew from 350 to 60,000 between 1835 and 1850. The city’s water infrastructure could not handle this huge increase in population. Most of the city’s sewage was being dumped into the Chicago River which flowed into Lake Michigan where the city drew its drinking water. The problem was not fixed until the early 1900s when Chicago modernized their water infrastructure.