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Some US airlines have questionable drinking water quality: Study
The Airline Water Study by DietDetective.com and the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center discovered that every airline has different water hygiene levels.
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The airlines that are said to have a good water quality score of at least 3 out of 5, according to the study, are Alaska Airlines and Allegiant. (Shutterstock/Thaninee Chuensomchit)
I
t is always advised to drink a lot of water while flying, as the air inside a flying aircraft is very dry and it can get you dehydrated.
Popular Science pointed out that the air above 15,000 feet has a recorded humidity of less than 1 percent, but it is kept around 20 percent inside an aircraft. However, it is still very dry even compared to the Sahara desert with humidity at 25 percent.
While those on board the aircraft obviously need to drink an adequate amount of water, the recent Airline Water Study by DietDetective.com and the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center found out that every airline has different water hygiene levels. Some are so low that the water is not good enough for washing your hands.
The study ranked 11 major and 12 regional United States airlines. The scoring was based on 10 criteria, including fleet size, Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR) violations, positive E. coli, coliform water sample reports and the airline’s cooperation in providing answers related to water-quality questions.
Read also: More airlines ban MacBook Pros in checked luggage
The airlines that are said to have a good water quality score of at least 3 out of 5, according to the study, are Alaska Airlines and Allegiant.
"Alaska Airlines and Allegiant win the top spot with the safest water in the sky, and Hawaiian Airlines finishes No. 2," Charles Platkin, the editor of DietDetective.com and the executive director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, said in a statement quoted by Travel and Leisure.
The airlines with the worst scores, according to the study, are JetBlue and Spirit Airlines. The study also found that almost all regional airlines in the US have poor Water Health Scores and a large number of ADWR violations. Republic Airways has the lowest score of 0.44 while ExpressJet has the second-lowest with 0.56.
Researchers suggest that passengers only drink water from sealed bottles and never drink coffee or tea on board. They even advise not to wash your hands in the bathroom and better bring hand sanitizers with you instead to stay clean. (gis/mut)
