Originally Posted by
marble
I had a quick read of the links posted above but I'm still not sure exactly what the problem is with airplane water. Would it be fair to say that the water from taps on a plane is as good as the water at the destinations it visits? That is, if a plane only ever did round trips between LAX and NYC then I'd be fine drinking the water? The water isn't just pumped out of the nearest lake?
Eurgh. The tanks are rarely if ever fully emptied. The dregs become brackish. The temperature rises and falls, making the tanks breeding grounds for microbial pests. Source water comes from any number of stations -- and consider the delivery system; tanks or casks mounted on airport vehicles, probably no cleaner, maybe worse.
I'd never drink that stuff, and I never accept water from open pitchers because I have seen FAs refill them from lav taps.
Bottom line: if you get on a plane and find encrusted bodily fluids on the seat fabrics, snot smeared on the cabin walls, rotten food and discarded nose-blowing tissues in the seat pockets, remnants of baby feces from in-seat diaper changing, etc., etc., and that's the
visible filth they're ignoring... imagine how much care they take to keep the (invisible) water tanks shipshape. Yuck.