Hydration on a plane is crucial.
While it may be tempting to gulp down tap water served by your flight attendant, there are many reasons why you should not.
Frequent flyer Gilbert Ott revealed on his site, God Save The Points, why he avoided drinking tap water when he flew.
He said: “I don’t drink the tap water, or even use it to brush my teeth and neither should you.
“Airplane water tanks are petri dishes, with water that’s been found to contain just about every bacteria and parasite under the sun. I wish that was a joke.”
Ott suggested that travellers bring with them a reusable bottle to fill at the airport or use bottled water.
He added: “Bring a reusable water bottle and fill up in the airport, or use bottled if you must. No tap water typically means no coffee, tea or anything else that’s made with that water, just FYI. Even if the water isn’t the problem, the coffee pots aren’t the best either…” (sic).
The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center and DietDetective.com released an Airline Water Study last year that revealed reasons why travellers should steer clear from drinking tap water on a plane.
It revealed that there's a possibility that water tanks were not being emptied, which could contribute to unhygienic water.
Diet Detective revealed on their site: “This is probably because the water tanks are not emptied very often (you would think they’d be emptied and cleaned at least once a day, but this is not so). So water is just sitting for long periods of time in what appear to be not-so-clean tanks.” (sic).
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency which established the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule, aircraft passengers and crew need to consume safe and reliable drinking water.