Potable water on Airbus tainted

[flygirl74]

I worked a flight with someone who has a friend who was working a LAX-PHL the other day. (This is not a Seashell story!) Anyhow, some health inspectors supposedly had tested the potable water - the sink and coffee maker water- and it was so contaminated that they grounded the plane. They had the water tanks emptied and had to be cleaned. Then, according to the story, this Airbus flew around for 4 days without running water before a crew refused to fly it.
Anyone hear anything?

 

[wings396]

Didn't hear anything about this rumor, but I for one would NEVER drink a drop of the water on ANY A/C. I used to handle the water svc at our station, and the hose & cart were nasty. At one time we filled a tank on a potable cart, and added a mix of stuff to purify it. After a new terminal was built. there was a hose reel that came direct from the city water source thru a cabinet at each gate. It was better, but the hose was not all that sanitary either. I can only imagine what may be lurking inside the water tanks O/B the A/C....

 

[dexter]

That water has been on the aircraft since its first flight. It is septic!

 

[DalMD88]

Every airline has airplanes that fail water samples. I used to drink coffee on airplanes, but not anymore. Sure the tanks get cleaned, but it only takes one bad refill to contaminate the system.

 

[allstrike]

There is no real potable water on an A/C.The water is filtered on the A/C at various points just like the in home filters you us.The water is filtered down to micron level.Chemicals are used in the tank to kill bacteria.Then its heated to make your coffee.I would not drink it from the tap though.

 

[JoeDirt]

I personally loaded a LAX flight 3 days ago that had no water. After we loaded 180 bags someone in their wisdom decided that this A/C could not be sent to LAX with no water. After downloading the bags another A/C was brought over to make up the flight. We loaded the same 180 bags again and sent the plane on its way. I found out from the crew that the water tanks were emptied because the Health Dept. found that the tanks were contaminated and needed to be flushed and purified. What happened to the plane with the empty tanks? Was it sent to the hanger? It was sent to MCO with extra bottles of water and Handi wipes. This was an A321. This is not rumor but fact.

 

[yoyodyne]

Any A/C with a vacuum drag lavatory waste systems needs potable water in order to reliably flush solid waste from the system. If there is no potable water, then I would imagine that the flight shouldn't operate.