Airline Water: Which Airline\u2019s Water Is Safest?<\/b><\/p>\n
New Study rates health of water provided to passengers<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0A 2019 Airline Water Study released today by <\/span>foodmedcenter.org<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center<\/span><\/a> reveals that the quality of drinking water varies by airline, and many airlines have provided passengers with unhealthy water.<\/span><\/p>\n Unhealthy water violates the federal government\u2019s <\/span>Aircraft Drinking Water Rule<\/span><\/a> (ADWR), which was implemented in 2011 and requires airlines to provide passengers and flight crew with safe drinking water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The 2019 Airline Water Study ranks 10 major and 13 regional airlines mainly by the quality of water they provided onboard its flights. Each airline was given a \u201cWater Health Score\u201d (5 = highest rating, 0 = lowest) based on 10 criteria, including fleet size, ADWR violations, positive E. coli and coliform water sample reports and cooperation in providing answers to water-quality questions. A score of 3.0 or better indicates that the airline has relatively safe, clean water.<\/span><\/p>\n Alaska Airlines and Allegiant win the top spot with the safest water in the sky, and Hawaiian Airlines finishes No. 2, <\/span>The airlines with the worst scores are JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, the study shows. Except for Piedmont Airlines, regional airlines need to improve their onboard water safety,<\/span><\/p>\n The ADWR r<\/span>equires airlines to take samples from their water tanks to test for coliform bacteria and possible E. coli. Airlines are also required to disinfect and flush each aircraft\u2019s water tank four times per year. Alternatively, an airline may choose to disinfect and flush once a year, but then it must test monthly. (See: <\/span>Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>The 2019 Airline Water Study also finds that the Environmental Protection Agency \u2013 one of the federal agencies responsible for ensuring safe aircraft drinking water\u2013 rarely levies civil penalties to airlines in violation of the ADWR.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here are the study\u2019s findings:<\/span><\/p>\n Airline Water Health Scores At-a-Glance<\/b> (5 = highest rating, 0 = lowest):<\/span><\/p>\n Major Airlines<\/b><\/p>\n Alaska Airlines: 3.3, Allegiant Air: 3.3, Hawaiian Airlines: 3.1, Frontier Airlines: 2.6, Southwest Airlines: 2.4, Delta Air Lines: 1.6, American Airlines: 1.5, United Airlines: 1.2, JetBlue: 1, Spirit Airlines: 1\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Regional Airlines<\/b><\/p>\n Piedmont Airlines: 4.33, Sun Country Airlines: 2.78, Envoy Air: 2.11, GoJet Airlines: 2, Trans States Airlines: 1.78, Compass Airlines 1.22, PSA Airlines: 1.22, SkyWest Airlines 1.11, Endeavor Air: 0.78, Air Wisconsin Airlines: 0.68, ExpressJet Airlines: 0.56, Republic Airways: 0.44\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Airline Water Study Results*<\/b><\/p>\n Alaska Airlines<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Onboard Water Health Score: 3.3 \/ 5\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aircraft Fleet Size: 335<\/span><\/p>\n Total ADWR Violations <\/span>(2012-2019): 2<\/span><\/p>\n Avg # of <\/span>ADWR <\/span>Violations per Aircraft: 0.01<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For E. Coli (2012-2019): 1<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For Coliform (2012-2019): 64<\/span><\/p>\n Cooperation In Water Investigation: Not <\/span>helpful\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Comments: While Alaska Airlines has a very low number of violations per aircraft, and received the highest water score. The airline has several unrecorded violations for its failure to collect repeat or follow-up samples of a coliform-positive result.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Allegiant<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Onboard Water Health Score: 3.3 \/ 5\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aircraft Fleet Size: 91<\/span><\/p>\n T<\/span>otal ADWR Violations <\/span>(2012-2019): 6<\/span><\/p>\n Avg # of ADWR Violations per Aircraft: 0.06<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For E. Coli (2012-2019): 2<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For Coliform (2012-2019): 0<\/span><\/p>\n Cooperation In Water Investigation: <\/span>Not helpful<\/span><\/p>\n Comments: Allegiant has a very low number of average violations per aircraft and received the highest water score.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hawaiian Airlines<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Onboard Water Health Score: 3.1 \/ 5\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aircraft Fleet Size: 57<\/span><\/p>\n Total ADWR Violations <\/span>(2012-2019): 25<\/span><\/p>\n Avg # of ADWR Violations per Aircraft: 0.44<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For E. Coli (2012-2019): 0<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For Coliform (2012-2019): 7<\/span><\/p>\n Cooperation In Water Investigation: Somewhat helpful<\/span><\/p>\n Comments: The airline says it samples water twice as often as EPA guidelines recommend. However, the airline had a relatively high average number of violations per aircraft. It is also important to note that 15 of the airline\u2019s 25 violations (since 2012) were in the last 18 months.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Frontier Airlines<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Onboard Water Health Score: 2.6 \/ 5\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aircraft Fleet Size: 91<\/span><\/p>\n Total ADWR Violations <\/span>(2012-2019): 19\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Avg # of ADWR Violations per Aircraft: 0.21<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For E. Coli (2012-2019): 4<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For Coliform (2012-2019): 8<\/span><\/p>\n Cooperation In Water Investigation: <\/span>Not helpful<\/span><\/p>\n Comments: Frontier had a relatively high number of violations for failure to conduct routine monitoring.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Southwest Airlines Co.\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Onboard Water Health Score: 2.4 \/ 5\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aircraft Fleet Size: 754<\/span><\/p>\n Total ADWR Violations <\/span>(2012-2019): 33<\/span><\/p>\n Avg # of ADWR Violations per Aircraft: 0.04<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For E. Coli (2012-2019): 2<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For Coliform (2012-2019): 122\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cooperation In Water Investigation: Not helpful\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Comments: Southwest had a very low number of violations per aircraft. However, the airline had an elevated number of violations for failure to conduct routine monitoring and failure to perform corrective actions as required.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Delta Air Lines<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Onboard Water Health Score: 1.6 \/ 5\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aircraft Fleet Size: 916<\/span><\/p>\n Total ADWR Violations <\/span>(2012-2019): 213\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Avg # of ADWR Violations per Aircraft: 0.23<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For E. Coli (2012-2019): 15<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For Coliform (2012-2019): 359\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cooperation In Water Investigation: Helpful<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Comments: Delta is the only airline to actually written a blog post on its <\/span>water<\/span><\/a>. However, the airline had a relatively high number of average violations per aircraft and a very high number of positive E. Coli lavatory samples. Additionally, the airline had a very high number of violations for failure to conduct routine monitoring and a high number of violations for failure to perform corrective actions. Endeavor Air, a <\/span>subsidiary of Delta<\/span>, also did not do very well with a score of 0.78.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n American Airlines<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Onboard Water Health Score: 1.5 \/ 5\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Aircraft Fleet Size: 968<\/span><\/p>\n Total ADWR Violations <\/span>(2012-2019): 108\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Avg # of ADWR Violations per Aircraft: 0.11<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For E. Coli (2012-2019): 23<\/span><\/p>\n Total Water Samples Testing Positive For Coliform (2012-2019): 660\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cooperation In Water Investigation: Not helpful<\/span><\/p>\n Comments: American Airlines had a very high number of galley water samples testing positive for E.Coli. Additionally, American had a relatively high number of violations for failure to conduct routine monitoring and failure to perform corrective actions and repeat or follow up samples. American also owns regional carriers, PSA Airlines and Envoy Air, which have very poor onboard water records. However, its other subsidiary, Piedmont Airlines, received the highest water score.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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Major Airlines<\/b><\/h2>\n