Water on Delta

Q – Living in Atlanta, I get to fly Delta quite a bit on business and for pleasure. I’ve always wondered about something. About a month ago, I returned from overseas and got a bad case of something that seemed food-related. I kept reviewing what I ate and then it hit me that I had been drinking a ton of water on the return flight and it did not appear to be out of any bottle. Could this be the cause of my stomach upset?

A – Well we blame the airlines for everything else – why not a bout of food poisoning. Actually, it wouldn;t surprise me if it was the water. Commercial jets have water storage tanks that are not, as far as we can determine, under any federal inspection controls. Once in a while, those water tanks are supposed to be “cleansed” with some soft detergents. I have read accusations that this “tank” water is often tainted and, at the very least, stale and crawling with contaminants. You’ll notice that the crew won; touch it – so avoid it in the future. Evian is a mystical word at 33,000 feet.