London’s Gatwick Airport hit by major water outage; toilets, restaurants shut

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 26, 2026 11:39 PM IST

A major water supply failure has hit London’s Gatwick Airport, disrupting access to working toilets, bars and restaurants on Sunday, airport authorities said in a statement on X.

The UK’s second-busiest airport in Sussex lost running water at both its terminals, with passengers complaining online that they were unable to wash their hands, get hot drinks, or fill up water bottles at Gatwick Airport, The Guardian reported.

According to water suppliers, the issue also had a wider impact on Sussex and Kent areas on Sunday. A BBC report quoted people who said there was confusion and frustration at the airport as all restaurants and bars were shut, while queues built up outside toilets.

A local water supply issue is continuing to cause disruption. There is currently no water supply in either terminal.

Our staff are on hand to support passengers and provide assistance where needed, some restaurant partners have opened to provide additional seating.

We apologise… pic.twitter.com/B5UZHB1680

— London Gatwick LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) July 26, 2026

Airport says flights continue, bottled water distributed

Gatwick Airport, in a statement, said, “A water issue in the Horley area is causing disruption at the airport this morning. The problem is affecting water supply in both terminals and is currently under investigation.”

The airport added that no flights were affected due to the water supply failure issue and bottled water was being provided to travellers, The Guardian reported.

We are pleased to provide an update that our Bough Beech water treatment works are back up and running, we now need to treat the water before returning services to normal as quickly as we possibly can.

We would like to thank customers and our partners at Gatwick Airport for…

— SES Water (@SESWater) July 26, 2026

“Bottled water is being made available to passengers and staff across the airport and other contingency measures are being put in place to ensure the welfare of our passengers. We will provide further updates and apologise for any inconvenience to passengers,” Gatwick Airport added in the statement.

Water supplier restores treatment works, recovery underway

The Guardian report quoted utility company SES Water, which clarified that water supply interruptions also hit parts of the TN11, RH1, RH6 and RH10 postcode areas.

Later, in an update provided by the airport authorities around 2 pm (local time), they said: “Our Bough Beech water treatment works are back up and running. We now need to treat the water before returning services to normal as quickly as we possibly can.”

The airport added that it was working closely with the water suppliers and monitoring the situation.

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