Flight Attendants Fighting for Safe Water Aboard Aircraft

AFA-CWA leaders say a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule to safeguard drinking water onboard airplanes leaves too much power in the hands of the airlines and puts flight attendants and passengers at risk.

A few years ago, galley and lavatory water samples collected and analyzed by the EPA itself showed that about 15 percent of the aircraft had water supplies contaminated with coliform bacteria. More recent samples collected by a few of the airlines suggest that the levels are now 3 percent or less. Most coliform bacteria are not harmful to humans, but a few are, including some strains of E. coli.

Chris Witkowski, safety, health and security director for AFA-CWA, said EPA appears to have taken the airlines at their word and is proposing a rule that would continue to allow them to do their own tests with little oversight.

"We recommended to the EPA that before proposing an airline drinking water rule it should first obtain and analyze data from all of the airlines' self-tests, and also conduct its own independent tests," Witkowski said. "It was premature for the agency to issue this proposed rule based on preliminary testing data of unconfirmed validity."

The EPA tests followed a Wall Street Journal investigation of airline water in 2002, which followed-up on tests run by a 13-year-old California student as a science project. On a family trip to Australia, the teenager took tap water samples from nine airplanes and found that seven samples contained E. coli, fecal coliform or salmonella.

The fact that EPA's tests showed more than five times the contamination than the airlines' own tests showed is clear evidence that independent testing is essential, Witkowski said.

But so far EPA has said only that it "may" conduct audits "as deemed necessary" to ensure that airlines are complying with its rules. "EPA must mandate routine, independent audits to ensure the public that water on airplanes is safe for all uses," he said.

The public has until July 8 to submit comments on the EPA's 29-page "Proposed Aircraft Drinking Water Rule." AFA-CWA is gathering input from flight attendants and preparing a detailed response.