Don't Drink the Water
 

I just saw an AP story on EPA tests done on airlines drinking water. The tests found coliform bacteria in the drinking water of one in every eight planes tested. They also found e-coli bacteria in two of the planes tested. Even though they claim it is just as safe as municipal water supplies, I think I will stick to my bottled water!

Didn't someone else just post this story recently?

I drink tap water everywhere I go including all over Europe. I've never had a problem. Friends of mine drink only bottled water, then when they do drink some "plain" water, they invariably get sick. I think adding a few miscellaneous bacteria to my system actually helps prevent many more illnesses. Besides I usually like tap water better than the tasteless bottled stuff.

The absolute worst tap water I've ever had is at the beaches in Pinellas County (St. Pete, Indian Rocks, Sunset, Treasure Island, etc.). They pipe their drinking water from well fields in Pasco County. By the time it gets to the beaches it's picked up every piece of rust and dirt possible along the way. I'd prefer to drink sewer water. Well, OK, that's really drastic. I would not drink sewer water.

When I saw the header for this thread, I thought it was going to be about the new research showing the contaminants and hazards in bottled water, which is not regulated as closely as municipal tap water:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...er_bacteria_dc

Mary, if your body loses the natural ability to fight off even water bacteria, do you know what it means? It means it's time to finish it off!

Stop spreading the panic.

It wasn't my intention to spread panic. I drink tap water and I don't worry. I just had never given much thought to the water on airplanes and the process of transporting it to the plane and how it was stored on the plane. I usually carry bottled water so I don't have to bug the flight attendants and I can keep from getting dryed up on the plane.

I'm with Mary on this one. Airplanes are nototious for spreading germs. My SO works in healthcare and as apart of her job recieves public health updates from the CDC. Since seeing recent bulletins, she has stopped using the tap water on planes - especially not to "wash" her hands. We now bring antibacterial gel on flights with us.

Have you ever read the label of bottled water? One popular brand said on the label it was Chicago City Water...

I don't drink bottle water, just tap water but when I fly I have never drank water from the plane. Never. Probably the water is better now perhaps than years ago. Even for convenience I would take bottled water, especially now when service is not that great on flights. An no, I am not slamming the overworked attendants. Not at all. It is just all the cost cutting airlines have done.

Many bottled waters are filterd and treated municipal waters. In some states this is 100% LEGAL. Research this for your area.
Also, in some areas you can find a free water test. True, here. You can provide a sample from your kitchen sink, from your refrigerator's filtered water dispenser, etc. This way, you can track the composition of the water. Especially useful before and after a copper re-pipe of a home that was originally plumbed with galvanized or lead pipes.

When I fly, I always see the FAs pour water out of large bottles...is someone suggesting that they're refilling these from the tap?

I always order juice anyway (gotta get my money's worth) and bring a bottle of water. I still catch all my colds from flying, though...I think it's the dry air and being cooped up with sick people.

In all my years of airline travel I have never seen or heard of passengers drinking "tap water". But bottled water has less quality control than most municipal water systems.

The obvious solution is to fly first or business and drink the wine,lol.
M

I have done a lot of research on bottled water. In my opinion, one of the best domestic bottled water is Poland Spring from Maine.

Worldwide one of the best is Fiji Water. I wish these companies though, would put their water in glass bottles because there is tainting of water from all plastic water containers.

Suzanne drinks juice. And, where do they get the water to make the juice? And for Coke, Pepsi etc....it's concentrate plus water. I always wonder where that water comes from! Does anybody know?

Gene, where on earth are you getting this information?

My juice is always served out of a can.

I don't drink the tap water either. Yet I'm not overly concerned about this drinking water story.

It does provide an "excuse" to either bring your own, or order a beer!

I would never consider drinking tap water from one of the restrooms on an airplane. Every flight I've been on has served bottled water.

Now, the coffee is probably made from the airplane tap water. Don't drink the coffee or tea. Stick with the bottled water, soft drinks, beer, wine, juice. ((b))

Hysteria! With all the bottled waters and "antibacterial" lotions and potions that have surfaced in the past few year, are people really getting sick less? No.

It is marketing genius!

Alisa, Marketing genius yes. Back in 1979 on my first trip to Europe I could not believe people bought water in bottles. Now its everywhere in the US. We have one of the safest drinking water standards in the world.

I can just here the laughs when some schmo at a bottling company in the US suggested bottling tap water and selling it, and at at a much higher price than gasoline!!! Marketing genius.

Try going to the FDA website and look at the warning letters issued for all kinds of places, including the airlines....FDA.gov

Suzanne....doesn't matter if it's in a can or bottle. The manufacturer still has to make the juice! Same w/ soft drinks like Coke, Pepsi, etc. A lot of juices are made from concentrate & water. Ditto for soft drinks. So...I am wondering where does that water come from? Is it "tap water" in the plant? "Boiled water from the tap" in the juice or soft drink plant? I doubt that it's "bottled water"!!! I don't mean to bug you about this....it's just that I have always wondered where the water comes from....in any edible/drinkable product.

I don't want to start panic attachs, but my daughter is taking an Enviromental Science class at UW in Water Management and when I started asking her about it she said, "Mom, you don't even want to know."

OK, but after "nagging" her about it, I said I wanted to know the safest water we could drink (we only drink filtered water), she said that we should get a newer filter and THEN boil that water.

I asked her about bottled water and she said that most of them aren't any better than tap water.

So, from now on, I plan to take my own filtered and boiled water on planes...

(Maybe the French have it right--just drink red wine!)

artlover, I think your daughter is being a bit of an alarmist. Unless you are living near a some kind of hazaradous waste dump or in a heavy industry community you probably don't have to boil water. this isn't sixteenth century London!

Please ask you daughter this question: Does "filtered water" take out biological contaminents which pose any real threat to me? When she says yes, just keep on boiling everything and forget about filtering. You are wasting your time and gas bill IMO.

re Alisa's posting...I saw a news story a few months back about the dramatic increase in peanut allergies in this country (something I'm very aware of because I work lunches at a grade school). They really don't know what's causing it. But one theory is that, because of all the antibacterial soaps, etc., children aren't able to build up immunities properly.

To: jor, who asked where in the world, did I get my information?

From: Gene: The Internet of course!

Jor: Excluding Alaska and Hawaii, do you know of a bottled water from another state that is better than Poland Springs?

People have been drinking PS water extracted from natural springs, deep within the wilderness of Maine, since 1845.

The plastic recyclable code on the bottom of their bottle is #1, the very best code available.

Fiji water is bottled on a remote island in the chain and is acclaimed as the most pure bottled water available.

If you have some information that disclaims this data please let us know?

Artlover, do you really boil and filter all of the water you drink? How do you wash your vegetables or brush your teeth?

Gene, yes I do. It comes out of my own well and goes in a (jug) then into my refigerator. I have had my water tested and it has had very high ratings. People here have been drinking well water farther back than 1848. Poland springs doesn't have the market cornered!

Why are you excluding Alaska in your competition? Pretty mountains, trees and streams do not necessarily make for pure water. Contaniments both environmental and biological can be found anywhere in the world. Any Hydrologist will confirm that.

I thought this thread was about the drinking water on the plane. The FAs are obviously not adding "plane water" to the cans of juice that I see them open. I've drunk canned sodas, juices and beer from Thailand and Mexico, though I won't use the tap water there to brush my teeth. I've never had any problems drinking the canned stuff, but maybe my stomach & immune system are just better than most (?)

I agree with Patrick about drinking tap water. People in many 3rd world countries drink their own tap water without any problems, but it would make us Americans sick because we haven't built up the kind of antibodies to kill whatever bacteria is in there, and the locals have.

jor, If my daughter has time (she's on a full scholarship, is taking a full load and working 30 hours a week!), I'll ask her to respond to your query.

Alisa, yes I use tap water to wash veggies and brush my teeth--I'm really not the kind of person who goes "overboard", but we do drink lots of water, so I don't think it's "going overboard" to take a bit of precaution.

LOL mikemo thinks the same way my Yankee does, he only drinks wine :D
I will drink a Bloody Mary or just Coke or bottled water.

Jor: I agree private well water, can be far superior to any municipal or bottled water sources. If you have a private well with good-tasting pure water than you are truly blessed.

The problem with private wells is that most people don't want to be bothered with all of the time and expense involved: Yearly testing for purity; pump maintenance; filtering systems etc.

Most people would rather just pay the city/town water bill and/or buy the bottled water and leave it at that.

I excluded Hawaii and Alaska because even though they may have fantastic bottled water products I don't think companies located there would make a profit shipping their water to the mainland. They don't have the marketing appeal of Fiji water or Evian from France.

For Suzanne: You are correct, this post was about airline water and I apologize for digressing. I just thought that water is so important to our lives, that I should add what I learned to the discussion.

Scarlett, Yankee, IMHO, has excellent taste. Skip the water and drink the wine!! ((D))

This caution is extremely important for parents who are travelling with their babies that may require airline water to make baby formula. If the water is contaminated baby can get very sick.

The presence of coliform bacteria in the water is an indicator that there may be fecal contamination. If you need water for the baby formula the best is ask for it to be boiled first.

This is just another reason to drink beer during a long flight. All the water in beer is cold filtered.

LoveItlay, :D

Wouldn't all parents who fly with infants know to use bottled water..no matter where they go ?

I would think baby formula would be made/mixed ahead of the flight -- one would think.

I agree with the above. Drink the wine and beer and have no fear. ((b))

Scarlett, I'm A yankee, wine drinking
dandy, born on the 4th night of being randy.