Aircraft Drinking Water Rule

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a new rule that will finally enforce guidelines for safe drinking water onboard airplanes. The Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR), signed on October 5, 2009, will “ensure that safe and reliable drinking water is provided to aircraft passengers and crew.” This rule has ultimately been enforced after the EPA checked aircraft drinking water quality in 2004 and found that of the aircraft tested in the study, 15 percent tested positive for total coliform bacteria. While coliform bacteria generally do not cause sickness, “their presence in drinking water indicates that disease-causing organisms (pathogens) could be in the water.”

The municipal water supply of an airport is generally the source of water for a flight. However, the ADWR has created a set of stricter regulations that aircraft must follow. The ADWR provides protection by the development and implementation of operation and maintenance plans, as well as plans for coliform sampling. Other elements of the rule include routine disinfecting, flushing, and monitoring, notifying the public of potential health risks, corrective action resulting from potential situations leading to public health risk, and periodic compliance audits administered by the EPA.

Previously, aircraft drinking water quality standards were harder to implement, and still face enforcement challenges as aircraft board drinking water from sources at any travel destination, including foreign sources that are not subject to EPA regulation. This means that the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule only applies to aircraft within the United States. Another enforcement challenge for drinking water safety on aircraft is that the EPA, Food and Drug Administration, and Federal Aviation Administration jointly regulate it. While the EPA regulates drinking water, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates culinary water used to do such things as make ice and brew coffee and tea. The FDA also has jurisdiction over where aircraft receive water at an airport.

While drinking water quality standards face enforcement challenges, as do many policies, it is comforting to know that such legislation as the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule apply regulations and consequences for failure to comply with drinking water quality standards. Although enforcement is limited to within the United States, at least the EPA is doing its part to enforce quality standards that protect public health within its jurisdiction.