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Airline Drinking Water Flunks EPA Tests

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Times Staff Writer

Passengers on airlines flying within the U.S. who have compromised immune systems may want to think twice before drinking the water on board, the Environmental Protection Agency warned Wednesday.

The drinking water on about 1 out of every 6 airplanes flunked a random bacteria test administered in November and December at airports across the nation, including Los Angeles International Airport.

The results surprised the EPA, which ran the tests to make sure that a sampling in August and September was valid. But the new round indicated a wider problem than the first tests, which found bacteria in the water of 1 out of every 8 planes sampled.

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“We didn’t think the numbers would be that high,” said Cynthia Bergman, the EPA’s press secretary. “The numbers raised our concern.”

In its new round of testing, the EPA sampled water from galley taps as well as bathroom faucets in 169 domestic and international flights, finding total coliform bacteria -- an indicator of potential disease-causing organisms -- in 29 planes.

In the earlier tests, the EPA found coliform in 20 of 158 planes.

“It warrants continued scrutiny,” Bergman said.

But the Air Transport Assn., an industry group, criticized the EPA for testing water from bathrooms, saying it could lead to cross-contamination of samples.

ATA spokesman Doug Wills said the EPA’s failure to find E. coli, a bacteria that can cause severe gastrointestinal problems, showed that drinking water on airlines was safer than ever.

The EPA’s first round of testing water on planes last year found E. coli samples on two planes.

“They found no harmful bacteria in the second round of tests,” Wills said.

“We believe this underscores what we’ve been saying all along: Airline drinking water is safe, and the public shouldn’t be alarmed.”

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The EPA disagreed.

Tom Skinner, the EPA’s acting enforcement chief, said he never used airline drinking water to brush his teeth and always drank bottled water on flights.

The EPA advised passengers who were concerned that their health could be at risk to ask flight attendants whether the coffee or tea on airplanes comes from bottled water or the tap. If it’s not bottled water, the EPA advised, passengers would be better off asking for a different beverage.

After the first round of tests, the EPA announced it had signed agreements with most of the major airlines in the U.S. to improve water quality testing and disinfecting programs. Those plans were not in place by the second round of testing.

The EPA tested the drinking water at seven airports during its first round of samples and at 12 airports in November and December. Among them were LAX, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Ontario International, and John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia International in New York.

But because water tested at a particular airport had bacteria did not mean that it came from there, said Bergman of the EPA.

“It’s hard to figure out the particular source of the contaminant,” she said, noting that planes refilled their water tanks in so many cities that it was impossible to figure out where the bacteria came from.

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The EPA did not disclose the names of airlines whose water tested for bacteria.

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