Good afternoon, Domingo, and thank you for your inquiry regarding possibly providing water testing to airlines and ground services at an airport in the Bahamas.

At this point we do not know exactly what sort of information you seek… but we have heard that some airlines already have guidelines and procedures in place which require testing of water that will get served on their planes regardless of geographic location.

At the very minimum those tests, we would guess, include testing water in planes’ potable water tanks for free chlorine levels and unwanted organic contaminants such as coliform bacteria — though the results of bacteria testing would not become known until after 24 hours and by that time the plane would obviously have already left the ground and traveled, perhaps halfway around the globe.

We suspect that you will need to get in touch with each respective airline’s main office if you want to learn more about what each airline tests for. Additionally, you may also want to contact the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration in the United States) to see if they have any regulations on the books governing water quality on airplanes and/or at airports.

Conveniently, this brings us to the matter of testing water used by ground services at the airport.

Without a doubt any food service operation must adhere to water quality requirements and testing testing requirements spelled out for them by the local health department.

Also without a doubt, the airport answers to the region’s environmental and/or natural resources department on matters dealing with the quality of water exiting the property in the form of waste water, runoff, etc.

Sorry we do not have more information to share on the topic of airport water testing but we do think, after hearing rumors involving accidental fuel spills (unreported), deicing solution spills (unreported), and the detection of coliform bacteria in potable water supplies on commercial aircraft, etc., that the topic deserves more attention than perhaps many people give it.

We wish you the best of luck in getting your business off the ground!

Pun intended. 😉

Did you also know that the United States Environmental Protection Agency tested water on planes and found that water coming out from the faucets in the bathroom sinks, and other places, on some airplanes contained coliform bacteria which sometimes indicate the presence of disease-causing germs?

The agency tested water from 327 planes, of which 15 percent tested positive for coliform. The agency said about 20 percent of the water tested didn’t show any amount of chlorine — an indication it had not been treated. ( source )

At this point you probably want to know why no one did anything about the problem — 5 years ago. With no applicable laws on the books governing the safety and purity of potable water on planes, public health officials had nothing to enforce.

All that has come a stop, though, with the creation of new rules which will govern how often airlines must test the purity of their onboard water. Frequency of testing will most likely vary with each airline as each airline goes through potable water at different rates and dumps/purges its planes’ potable water tanks at different intervals.

“This rule is a significant step forward in protecting people’s health when they travel,” said Peter Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “EPA has taken this step to make sure the public has drinking water that meets standards, both in the air and on the ground.” ( source )

Portable Water Test Kits for Travel:

Ever travel to a new place and wonder, “Is the water ‘safe’ to drink?” Several contributors to the Water Testing Blog have worked in sales and have spent many a night in hotels across the world so we already know the answer to that question: “Yes.”

While no reasonably priced, travel-sized water test kit will guarantee the safety of your drinking water, don’t you think you owe it to yourself to at least test for a few of the basics like chlorine, lead, other metals, and bacteria?

Free Chlorine Water Test

Bacteria Check Test Kit

Water Metals Test Kit

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