The joke used to be that Evian spelled backwards is Naive. Haven't heard that one in a while. You could have guessed this already, but now the people from the gubb'mint are here to confirm your suspicions. Water on airplanes really IS disgusting.
CBS News reports the U.S. EPA tested the water available to passengers (via the bathroom sinks AND kitchen galleys) on 300 planes over six months and found that in one out of seven instances, federal pollution standards were exceeded. Coliform and e-coli bacteria associated with human feces is the big problem.
Water is pumped onto commercial jets via hoses that are hard to clean, but what's not quite clear is what goes through those hoses besides water. The not so faint implication from the story is that sewage is pumped out of some planes on the same hoses that water is pumped in on. That is almost too outrageous to even contemplate, but the suggestion is clear, though unaddressed, in the CBS story. A little follow-up is in order from the crew at Black Rock, I'd say. Get to the bottom of it, so to speak.
I'll put out my own call, to the teeming hundreds who visit this site daily: Anyone out there who works in aviation ground maintenance have any information to share?
For the meantime: bottled water, and no coffee or tea on planes. And don't wash your hands in the plane's bathroom, you may be making them germier. Anti-bacterial towelettes or gels are the order of the day. For you folks who already open bathroom doors in cafes with your elbows, this is no big deal.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 19, 2005 12:52 PM
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Oooooh, I AM one of those people! I keep anit-bacterial wipes in the car as well as hand sanitizer...which is applied liberally when I leave any public place :p I usually open doors with my sleeve if they are 'pull' doors. If it's a push door my hiney/hip comes in real handy. LOL
Just wanted to drop by and check out your blog and say hello :) And thank you for the quick email reply too.
Matt,
I see that Boeing has joined the blog world at:
http://www.boeing.com/randy/
Posted by: Gary at January 19, 2005 01:06 PMMatt,
I see that Boeing has joined the blog world at:
http://www.boeing.com/randy/
Hat tip: Hugh Hewitt
Posted by: Gary at January 19, 2005 01:07 PMThanks for the tip Gary, I'll check it out.
And Miss Patriot, I'm the same way. Before I go to elbows, sleeves come in handy. It's a germy, germy world, sad to say. Good to hear from you. Stay in touch......
Posted by: Matt R. at January 19, 2005 01:14 PMI am working with some airline maint people now. I should see them tomorrow; I will ask.
Posted by: Ron at January 19, 2005 09:14 PMDon't drink the water on airplanes? Fair enough. Don't pee in the sink on airplanes.
Some of us fly downstairs, in coach.
Posted by: James C. Hess at January 20, 2005 04:58 PMThe article I read on this cited no cases at all of the "contamination" violating any public health standards.
Talking to the airline maintainers: The only danger is to people with severe immune deficiencies. The airlines check water quality daily and make sure it is safe. Perfect? No. But they watch it constantly, because the traveling public are their customers.
Q to them: Do you drink water, coffee, tea on an airplane? A: Yes.
Q: In the lavatory? A: No!
you cna be pretty sure that they don't pump sewage through the same hoses by which they pump water, but you can be just as sure that the colose proximity of the pipe intakes, the flanges, fittings and so forth, as well as the probably hasty way in which the in and outputs are made, there is cross-contamination. Also, the workers that hook up the hoses probably don't change gloves.
Posted by: Bleeding heart conservative at January 22, 2005 03:36 PMDoes anyone know where the water in the sink goes when you push the lever to expell it? Does it go into a holding tank? Or does it go outside?
I used to work for an airline (up to 1983) and I heard stories of the blue water from the holding tank of the toilet escaping, freezing, and eventually breaking off to fall to the earth.
But I forgot what happens with the water.
Posted by: Roland at February 16, 2005 10:21 AMDoes anyone know where the water in the sink goes when you push the lever to expell it? Does it go into a holding tank? Or does it go outside?
I used to work for an airline (up to 1983) and I heard stories of the blue water from the holding tank of the toilet escaping, freezing, and eventually breaking off to fall to the earth.
But I forgot what happens with the water.
Posted by: Roland Limeback at February 16, 2005 10:24 AMI work in Lima airport (Perú, and the blue water is collected by truchs and treated in a specially made plant before it was trow in the city sewage system
leo
Posted by: Leopoldo at July 18, 2005 03:43 PM