AIRLINE WATER IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH!!!!!! Coffee, Tea...or Salmonella? DOUBLE BRAF ALERT!!!

National Enquirer | February-18-2003 | Philip Smith

[GrandMoM]

Warning: The water on airplanes that you use to wash you hands, brush your teeth and drink can be extremely hazardous to your health_even kill you, an ENQUIRER investigation reveals.

In a recent study, tap water from 14 flights was analyzed and found to contain everything from salmonella and staphylococcus, to insect eggs and fecal matter!

"I have been testing potable water for 26 years, and I have never seen bacterial levels so high," Dr Donald Hendrickson, the microbiologist who tested the samples, told the Enquirer.

"In the past, I'd sometimes see contamination levels at 6,000 and 7,000 (units per milliliter) and I thought: Boy, that's high. The bacteria levels in the water samples taken from the planes were in the MILLIONS!"

Mary Schiavo, an attorney who spent six years as an inspector general at the U.S. Department of Transportation, told the Enquirer: "What I found is that thre is no federal requirement that airlines clean out and disinfect the water tanks on planes.

"The only times the tanks might be cleaned is when the airline takes the plane out of service every seven years or so for a major service."

But even then they might not clean the tanks. Some of the planes flying today are more than 20 years old. It's entirely possible that the water tanks have never been cleaned in all that time. So it is not surprising that you're going to be building up a pretty lethal stew of bugs and crud in the water."

"What I also discovered is that the people who fill the water tanks are the same people who drain the sewage from the planes. So it's easy to see how fecal matter can get into the tanks." OH YUK!!!!!!

[GrandMoM]

....this is an excerpt from the weekly paper!

[Eala]

braf?

[Mr. Mojo]

an ENQUIRER investigation reveals.

And we all know about the Enquirer --- they check, recheck, and then recheck their facts again.

[Jean S]

I'm not sure this is important. Does anyone drink the water in the restrooms when bottled water is free on all flights?

[Ditter]

Isn't there a sign in the bathroom that says it isn't drinking water. That means no tooth brushing to me too. Now I don't think I'll even wash my hands.

[finnman69]

Wait till the cruise ship doo doo virus gets on a plane. Yuck.

[IncPen]

I think there's a even a little sign by the spout that says, "Don't drink this water".

Mary Schiavo... using up her 15 minutes?

[Riley]

Double Braf Alert, no less!

BRAF! BRAF!

:0)

[Tennessee_Bob]

You mean you've never braffed before? It's worse than barfing - so bad that you get the letters wrong....

[JRandomFreeper]

That means no tooth brushing to me too.

International flyer, eh?

I take my own toothbrush, and never brush my teeth with anything but Listerene(tm) or whiskey. Water is unhealthy. Bugs can live in it.

/john

[JZoback]

That does it.

No more drinking from the toilets in airliners.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Don't know whether this was intended, but it points up another potential airline security issue. What would happen if some Jihad-o-loon managed to get the water on an airplane poisoned? Pilot and copilot both drink the coffee, then suddenly die (along with lots of passengers and crew). Terrorist on board then just walks into cockpit during the confusion, and does another 9/11.

[Jean S]

Yep, every airplane I've been on has had that message. This is a non-story.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Water is unhealthy. Bugs can live in it.

And we all know what fish do in it.

[pttttt]

You mean you've never braffed before? It's worse than barfing - so bad that you get the letters wrong....

This sounds vey series!

[JRandomFreeper]

Lucky fish.

/john

[Tennessee_Bob]

[Eala]

Got it.

BRAF! BRAF!

[Ditter]

Not being a whiskey drinker myself, I have been known to brush my teeth with Coca Cola.

[SamAdams76]

In recent years, airlines have taken to passing out bottled water - usually Poland Springs.

But I can attest that the "tap" water on airplanes is probably not the cleanest water you can drink. For at one time, I worked at the airport and was responsible for topping off the water on the airplanes. I would drive the water truck up to the plane, connect a hose to the underside of the plane's belly and pump it up there until it was full. No sanitary measures were taken so far as I could tell. Who knew when the last time the tanks (either on the plane or the truck) were emptied out and cleaned? Who knew the last time the hoses and couplings were cleaned out? Not I. And do you know what one of my other jobs were? Emptying out the lavratories. Sure, I used a different truck for that. But I wasn't washing my hands in between, nor was anybody else.