Are there any federal regulations governing filtering/cleansing of
water in airplane bathroom sinks?  I know it is not safe to drink, but
is it even clean enough to be washing hands?

Dear jcs_123-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question.

The short answer is that the water ?should? be clean. You see, the
regulations that govern water onboard an aircraft relies upon
self-monitoring and reporting of results to the primacy agency. The
primacy agency for aircraft public water systems is EPA. This means
that while rules are in effect to establish certain criteria, airlines
are in large part expected to police themselves through daily testing
and reporting procedures (unless of course some complaint arises to
suggest they are not and requires the EPA to get directly involved).

In 1986 the US Environmental Protection Agency issued ?Water Supply
Guidance 29? in an effort to tailor Safe Drinking Water Act
requirements for public water systems to address the unique
characteristics of Interstate Carrier Conveyances (ICCs), such as
aircraft. You can read that edict and other pertinent regulations on
the EPA?s official government website:

US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
?Regulating Water on Interstate Carrier Conveyances?
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/airlinewater/regs.html

Water Supply Guidance 29
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/wsg/wsg_29.pdf
(I?ve read this document and you will note on page 9 that an aircraft
must display a 14? x 7? placard with ½ inch letters stating ?wash
water only ? not fit for human consumption? if that is the case
onboard any aircraft. Otherwise it can be assumed that the water is,
at the very least, clean enough and safe enough to wash with.)

The US Food and Drug Administration also has a hand in regulatory control:

FDA regulations for Interstate Conveyance Sanitation
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=1250

FDA Guide to Inspections of Interstate Carriers and Support Facilities
http://www.fda.gov/ora/inspect_ref/igs/icsf.html



I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



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