Gatwick Airport experienced significant disruptions on Sunday due to a water outage affecting both of its terminals. A power failure at a water treatment plant in southeast England caused a drop in water pressure and temporary water loss for some customers in Kent and Sussex counties, according to SES Water.
The airport issued an apology on X, formerly Twitter, for the inconvenience caused to passengers. "We are working to resolve the issue and apologize for the inconvenience this may cause," the airport posted. In response to the outage, Gatwick stated it was providing bottled water to passengers.
However, some passengers reported not seeing distributed water bottles and expressed concern about the lack of functioning restrooms. "For people who need to go to the toilet, this isn’t good," said Paul Lee, a passenger at the airport, in comments to the BBC. "I’m taking off soon, so that’s fine, but for passengers in a few hours, this will be bad."
Further issues arose as a consequence of the water shortage, with restaurants and bars at the airport forced to close. Michael Dugher, a former member of Parliament, noted on social media that the closures led to a shortage of seating, with passengers sitting on the floor. He suggested the airport open these closed spaces to accommodate more seating.
SES Water stated it was actively working to restore service following the power outage at its Bough Beech Water Treatment Works. The company did not immediately provide an estimated time for service restoration.