London Gatwick Airport experienced a major water-supply disruption on Friday, August 28, after a water main burst in a field near Horley. Both terminals were affected, with some toilets in the North Terminal forced to close and several food and drink outlets temporarily unable to serve customers because of the lack of running water. Most facilities in the South Terminal remained available. SES Water located the damaged main and restored supply by rerouting water through its network, with pressure gradually returning to normal later in the day. Gatwick said flight operations were unaffected and all scheduled departures continued.
The incident is particularly significant because it is the airport’s second serious water outage in just over a month. In late July, both terminals lost running water for several hours after a power failure at the Bough Beech Water Treatment Works, forcing toilets, restaurants and bars to close and prompting the distribution of bottled water to passengers. SES Water supplies more than 700,000 people across parts of Surrey, Kent and south London, including Gatwick, and the two incidents in quick succession have renewed questions over the resilience of essential infrastructure serving one of Britain’s busiest airports. Sources: Gatwick Airport, SES Water, ITV News and Financial Times.
