OVERLAPPING JURISDICTION COULD COMPLICATE AIRLINE WATER REGULATION

摘要

Overlapping regulatory jurisdiction among the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as well as currently unanswered questions over the cause of drinking water contamination on airplanes, could complicate EPA's goal of proposing aircraft drinking water regulations in the next 18-24 months. At a recent public meeting on the rulemaking process, airline representatives expressed concern over how an EPA regulation would affect FDA and FAA requirements. Some airline representatives also raised doubts about whether airlines can truly work collaboratively with EPA in developing the regulations, as EPA wants, when the airlines are under an administrative consent order governing monitoring and disinfection procedures. Last year, EPA sampled water from the taps of 327 aircraft and found that 15 percent tested positive for total coliforms. There were also two positive samples for E. Coli. Approximately 21 percent of samples had no detection for chlorine residuals, a measure of whether the water was properly disinfected.