On Sunday 26 July, Gatwick airport was left without running water following a power outage at a local treatment works. The shortage meant that water fountains, toilets and handwashing facilities stopped working across both terminals, with many bars and restaurants forced to close.
During the peak summer travel period, passengers faced long queues for toilets after the major supply outage at the UK's second busiest airport.
SES Water, the firm that supplies the airport, said that a power outage at Bough Beech Water Treatment Works caused the problem, which also affected homes in parts of Surrey and West Sussex, including Redhill, Crawley, Edenbridge and Crockham Hill.
SES announced that it was having issues on Sunday morning, and while this was fixed by mid-afternoon, the water needed to be treated before normally supply could resume. Gatwick Airport said that facilities at the airport returned to normal by Monday morning, and in the meantime bottled water was available for passengers and flights remained unaffected.
In their announcement, on Monday 27 July, Gatwick said: "Following an issue at the Bough Beech Water Treatment Works which impacted the local area today, we are pleased to report that the water supply has now returned to the vast majority of the London Gatwick campus. Since becoming aware of the issue, we have been working closely with @SESWater and our airport partners to help minimise the impact, and ensure all today's flights departed as scheduled."
SES Water said: "We know this incident has caused disruption for customers and our partners and we are sorry. We thank everyone for their patience while our teams worked to restore supplies as quickly and safely as possible."
"Supplies are gradually returning for impacted customers including Gatwick Airport - it will take time for the network to fully return to normal as this has been a highly unusual and complex issue."