An interesting afternoon yesterday at the Bathrooms Manufacturers Association AGM in Stoke-on-Trent.

If you've ever been to Stoke you'll know that it's not the most picturesque of towns and my own memories consist of a couple of trips there when I was a student to see a mate at the university.

The only reason I went twice was because I fancied a girl I met there the first time - the appeals of the location were not a draw. (As it turned out, my appeal to her was about the same).

Anyway, I digress, the BMA AGM (not to be confused with the BMA Conference, which is in October) always features a presentation that can often be far too technical for me but usually gives a worthwhile indication of what issues may arise for the retailers who sell this stuff.

Legislation and guidelines governing plumbing specifications is not, I confess, one of the things about this industry that grips me but to find yourself in a warm room in Stoke-on-Trent listening to a Professor demonstrate computer simulations of how far feces can travel down a waste pipe was something new.

There were two things I had to get past before realising that this all had a point - firstly, the technical euphemisms for, er, you know, number twos.

And secondly was that the computer simulations made me feel that I was watching a demo for a new Xbox title (games developers take note, you could call it Poo Sticks, there's something in that idea, definitely) and I had to get past that before I worked out that the basic topic was a pressing one for anyone involved in bathroom design.

If the need to conserve water means toilets are flushing on less and less, there is a danger that while the deposit in the ceramic bank may look like it has disappeared to the depositor, there isn't enough water pushing it all the way down the pipe to the drain.

According to Emeritus Professor John Swaffield though, it's not as important an issue as some think as smaller bathrooms mean the increased amount of water being used in other areas such as the basin, shower or bath, means the distance between places where water enters the system is small. That means that across the bathroom as a whole there is plenty of water flushing things away.

There's clearly plenty of debate in this area among manufacturers and the technical disciplines of architecture and design. They even had an event devoted to it at the ISH exhibition back in March.

What's clear to me though is how important it is for anyone involved in the retail of bathrooms - and for similar technical issues in kitchens - to force themselves into keeping up to date with the less sexy parts of the design and install process. It's not just for housebuilders and architects.

This is particularly true as consumers squeeze bathrooms, cloakrooms and shower rooms into parts of the house that were never designed to hold them.

It's all too easy for the consumer to forget that implementation is as important as design and being able to explain - and justify the potential extra cost of -the gubbins that needs to go on behind the scenes to make their dream kitchen or bathroom possible is what they come to independent retailers for isn't it?

Andrew Davies, editor, kbbreview

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