Most airlines agree to step up water monitoring
Posted on: Wednesday, 19 October 2005, 16:22 CDT
By John Crawley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. airlines will step up water quality monitoring on their planes after some samples taken from commercial aircraft last year were not safe to drink, environmental regulators said on Wednesday.
Eleven major airlines and 13 smaller ones reached agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency to routinely monitor water and disinfect aircraft water systems serving galleys and bathrooms as well as water transfer equipment.
Carriers are to report any contamination to regulators and study possible sources of contamination from outside the aircraft, according to the agreements.
"The water passengers drink on a plane should be as safe as the water they drink at home," said Ben Grumbles, an EPA assistant administrator.
"The settlements announced today show that it's time to fine-tune and upgrade EPA's water regulations to specifically address airplanes," Grumbles said.
The agency said it would continue to monitor water quality on U.S. commercial aircraft while it develops permanent guidelines.
Most major carriers have signed agreements with the agency. Negotiations continue with JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines.
EPA said passengers with compromised immune systems or others concerned about water quality can request bottled beverages. Most domestic carriers serve bottled water.
Last year, more than 30 aircraft in an EPA investigation of U.S. and internationally based airlines at 19 airports had water systems contaminated with coliform, or fecal, bacteria, which by itself may not pose a health risk. But fecal bacteria in drinking water indicates that other disease-causing organisms, or pathogens, may be present.
Regulators said they could not identify any illnesses related to aircraft water but said it was possible that some passengers got sick. Many of the contaminated samples came from bathrooms. Aircraft water comes from municipal water supplies.
There are thousands of planes in the commercial fleet and big airlines questioned the test results. Airlines can be fined more than $27,000 for each violation under the new agreements, the EPA said.
Airlines can do the water monitoring themselves or contract the work.
Source: REUTERS
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