One out of Six Jetliners Carries Contaminated Water

The tanks of approximately 15 percent of commercial planes carry water polluted with cuneiform bacteria that are critically harmful to humans, that according to a recent research study conducted in 2004 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in over 300 aircraft used for domestic and international flights by several airlines.

The EPA report disclosed that recent tests performed on samples of tap water from kitchen and bathroom faucets in 169 planes yielded positive outcomes in 29 of those commercial jets, more than 17 percent of the total. EPA experts found no traces of E-coli, a variety of a highly virulent bacterium, in any of the planes.

Between the months of August and September last year, the EPA had already carried out a first round of tests in 158 jetliners and found cuneiform bacteria in nearly two dozen of them, plus E-coli strains in two other. Putting the two tests together, EPA officials have combed a grand total of 327 planes and come up with positive results in 15 percent of them.

The EPA explains the presence of cuneiform bacteria and E-coli strains is “an indicator that other pathogenic elements could be found in planes´ water as well.”

The infected planes were quarantined and submitted to additional tests (in the case of U.S. air companies), while the front offices of foreign airlines were informed about the upshots of the EPA research study.