The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached agreements with 24 airlines to monitor the quality of drinking water on their aircraft after tests showed 15 percent of airplane water contained pathogens that can make people ill.
The agreement will help ensure that water on airplanes meets the same safety standards as water on the ground, officials said.
"You want to make sure you have good, quality drinking water on an airplane," said Everett Pringle, drinking water enforcement officer for the EPA office in San Francisco.
It is unclear how many people became ill from drinking contaminated water, but the potential existed, he said.
The EPA tested samples from 327 domestic and foreign planes at 19 airports in 2004 in the study that found 15 percent were contaminated. Airlines use water systems to run restrooms and food service such as refreshments, water fountains or making coffee.
The agency has had broad guidelines for onboard water quality for decades but is developing more specific regulations that should be in place by 2007.
In the meantime, the agency plans to work with airlines to determine the sources of the contamination and increase monitoring of water supplies.
"Any issue that relates to the health and safety of our passengers is of utmost importance," said Amanda Tobin, spokeswoman for Seattle-based Alaska Airlines. "That's been our stance on this issue for many, many years and we have taken the steps to ensure we have safe drinking water."
The EPA began researching the topic after an outbreak of E. coli in water on Amtrak trains during the late 1990s, said federal EPA spokesman Dale Kemery.
The airplane drinking water issue garnered national attention three years ago after Alamo teenager Zach Bjornson-Hooper conducted tests on flights he took for family vacations.
The Wall Street Journal picked up the story from an account his mother posted on a travel Web site.
"I was surprised that it was in the Wall Street Journal and other media," Zach said. "Now I'm surprised it's influencing (regulations)."
Kemery said the agency was aware of the issue before the Journal story, but the attention "stimulated airlines to act" and cooperate with the investigations.
Zach, 16, said he has since focused on promoting that and other environmental issues. He is president of the environmental club at Moraga's Campolindo High School, where he is a senior, and recently returned from a U.N. youth summit in Banglore, India, that discussed environmental policy.
"Zach's story is influential, it shows how one individual can make a great impact on a national level," Pringle said. "It started this ball rolling on testing water on airlines."
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