Plumbing originated during ancient civilizations, as they developed public baths and needed to provide potable water and wastewater removal for larger numbers of people.

Plumbing & Pipefitter is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. Heating and cooling, waste removal, and potable water delivery are among the most common uses for plumbing, but it is not limited to these applications. The word derives from the Latin for lead as the first effective pipes used in the Roman era were lead pipes. In the developed world, plumbing infrastructure is critical to public health and sanitation. Pipefitters & plumbers they work with piping as part of their trade and their work can include some plumbing.
Standardized earthen plumbing pipes with broad flanges making use of asphalt for preventing leakages appeared in the urban settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization .
Most large cities today pipe solid wastes to sewage treatment plants in order to separate and partially purify the water, before emptying into streams or other bodies of water. Copper piping took over, first soft copper with flared fittings, then with rigid copper tubing using soldered fittings.