B757 flight crew was informed by a flight attendant shortly after level off that potable water was d...

Narrative:

Shortly after level off en route to europe; flight attendant advised me of a problem. She was unable to get water from coffeemakers or lavatories in mid or forward sections of aircraft. She also stated that the water gage indicated a rapidly depleting indication of the number of gallons on the gage. Captain discussed situation with maintenance and decision was made to return to base. I coordinated with center on both HF and VHF to get clearance back to our departure airport. We declared an emergency due to the aircraft being 20;000 pounds overweight for landing and asked for the fire trucks to be standing by to check brakes. Captain made very smooth landing with full reverser's. Fire chief examined the brakes and we taxied back to gate.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 flight crew was informed by a Flight Attendant shortly after level off that potable water was disappearing from the tank and unavailable in the cabin. Since this was an overwater ETOPS flight; the crew elected to return to their departure airport.

Narrative: Shortly after level off en route to Europe; Flight Attendant advised me of a problem. She was unable to get water from coffeemakers or lavatories in mid or forward sections of aircraft. She also stated that the water gage indicated a rapidly depleting indication of the number of gallons on the gage. Captain discussed situation with Maintenance and decision was made to return to base. I coordinated with Center on both HF and VHF to get clearance back to our departure airport. We declared an emergency due to the aircraft being 20;000 LBS overweight for landing and asked for the fire trucks to be standing by to check brakes. Captain made very smooth landing with full reverser's. Fire chief examined the brakes and we taxied back to gate.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	888078
Time
Date	201005
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Component
Aircraft Component	Potable Water Storage control indication
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

B757 flight crew was informed by a flight attendant shortly after level off that potable water was disappearing from the tank and unavailable in the cabin. Since this was an overwater ETOPS flight; the crew elected to return to their departure airport.