For Immediate Release: November 1, 2024

Windsor, England – International Code Council Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO was a guest speaker at the Windsor Summit: Pulling Together to Address Water Scarcity and Antimicrobial Resistance. The Summit took place from October 31 through November 1, 2024, at St George’s House in Windsor Castle.

Presentations addressed two existential threats: water scarcity and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Attendees focused on building a comprehensive understanding of water scarcity and AMR as distinct yet intertwined challenges. Discussions focused on identifying growth opportunities through sustainable innovation and practices and fostering stronger partnerships within the industry.

Sims spoke alongside other industry leaders, including Laura Kohler, Chief Sustainable Living Officer at Kohler Company and Cheri Phyfer, Executive Vice President and Group President at Fortune Brand Innovations. During his presentation, Sims highlighted the importance of water conservation and AMR and the ways the Code Council’s codes and standards address those issues.

“Adopting up-to-date building codes is one of the most cost-effective mitigations measures a community can take,” said Sims. “I encourage people to consider how they might prioritize the implementation of water conservation measures and how we as individuals, and as an industry, might address antimicrobial resistance in plumbing systems. We look forward to working alongside the plumbing industry to tackle these challenges.”

The Code Council develops the International Plumbing Code® (IPC) and the International Residential Code® (IRC), the preeminent model codes used globally regarding plumbing systems in buildings and homes. Additionally, the Code Council is developing a new ANSI standard (ICC 1670) that will address plumbing systems in hospitals and healthcare facilities, focusing on the transmission of pathogens via plumbing systems and the AMR of plumbing system components. Furthermore, ICC Evaluation Service, a member of the Code Council family of solutions, is a licensed certification body for plumbing product water efficiency programs including EPA WaterSense in the U.S. and the WaterMark Program in Australia.

Adopting the 2021 International Water Conservation Code Provisions (IWCCP) can result in significant long-term water savings throughout the U.S. and abroad based on the University of Miami report, “Water Conservation and Codes: Leveraging Global Water-Efficient Building Standards to Avert Shortfalls.” The report shows that for a given six-year period where the 2021 IWCCP is adopted in four major U.S. cities (Houston, TX, Phoenix, AZ, Las Vegas, NV and Des Moines, IA) for new home construction, the potential water that could be saved in these cities combined isover 34 billion gallons.

Learn more about how the Code Council addresses water conservation and efficiency here.

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About the International Code Council
The International Code Council is the leading global source of model codes and standards and building safety solutions. Code Council codes, standards and solutions are used to ensure safe, affordable and sustainable communities and buildings worldwide.