Is Airline Water Safe?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report in September 2004 stating that in 12.6% of the aircraft tested, there was coliform bacteria in the water. Should travelers be worried? Maybe. The EPA advises those with health risks to drink bottled water. The Air Transport Association (ATA), an association of U.S. airline carriers, questioned the study’s methodology and urged continued testing.

Specifically, the EPA announced that in one in eight instances (87.4 percent), the water tested from 158 randomly selected passenger airplanes met EPA drinking quality standards. However, 12.6 percent of the domestic and international passenger aircraft tested at US airports carried water that did not meet EPA standards.

Should Airline Passengers Be Concerned?

In comparison to 87.4 percent in aircraft, said the ATA, only 90 percent of municipal water supplies in the United States meet those same standards. So what U.S. source do airlines get their drinking water from? Municipal water supplies.

Airline drinking water is “as safe as the tap water most people get from their homes,” said Nancy Young, managing director of environmental programs and assistant general counsel for the ATA.

Likewise, she continued, the drinking water taken on board by U.S. carriers in foreign countries meets rigorous quality and safety standards. And airline drinking water storage tanks are routinely disinfected, in accordance with EPA and FDA requirements.

After defending the water source, the ATA then disputed the study’s methodology. “The EPA’s findings are based on a small sample (approximately 1 percent of the worldwide fleet) that does not allow statistical conclusions about aircraft drinking water,” according to the ATA. “There are also questions about how the EPA collected water samples, specifically what measures were taken to safeguard against cross-contamination.”

The ATA also disputes this study by citing results from previous studies. In contrast, said Young, there were no adverse health effects found in any other federal study. The EPA conducted a study of airline drinking water in 2004, and reported no problems. Separately, the airline industry worked with EPA on its own study in December 2003. That study tested 265 aircraft, the number of aircraft that EPA had indicated was the minimum necessary to be statistically significant, and found no cause for concern.

What Did the 2004 EPA Test Find?

Initial testing of the onboard water supply revealed 20 aircraft with positive results for total coliform bacteria, and two of these aircraft also tested positive for E. coli. In repeat testing on 11 aircraft, the Agency confirmed that water from eight of the 11 aircraft in the repeat test still did not meet the EPA’s water quality standards.

Coliforms are a group of closely related bacteria commonly found in soil and ambient water, such as rivers and lakes, and the digestive tracts of humans and other warm blooded animals. The presence of coliform, in and of itself, is not indicative of a health risk, according to the EPA. Coliform bacteria are not likely to cause illness. However, the presence of coliform bacteria in drinking water indicates that other disease-causing organisms (pathogens) may be present in the water system, according to the EPA.

E. coli is a subgroup of the fecal coliform group and most E. coli are harmless. Some strains, however, may cause illnesses such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches and other symptoms. The presence of E. coli in a drinking water sample may indicate human or animal fecal contamination, noted the EPA.

What Should Travelers Do?

 “Fortunately, no one has gotten sick from airline drinking water. There are no reported cases of illnesses due to aircraft drinking,” said the ATA’s Young.

The EPA suggested that “passengers with suppressed immune systems and others concerned should request bottled or canned beverages while on the aircraft and refrain from drinking tea or coffee that does not use bottled water.”

The EPA also noted that although boiling water for one minute removes pathogens from drinking water, the water used to prepare coffee and tea aboard a plane may not be brought to a sufficiently high temperature to guarantee that pathogens are killed.

Both EPA and ATA vowed to continue to study the issue.

Sources:

Airline Water Supplies, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Response to EPA Drinking Water Study, Air Transport Association