Passengers and staff at Gatwick Airport have been handed bottled water after a problem with the site’s water supply forced the airport to step in with emergency provisions.
The issue, which affected the busy Sussex airport, prompted a swift response from management who began distributing bottled water across the terminals while engineers worked to investigate the root cause.
Gatwick is one of the UK’s busiest airports, handling tens of millions of passengers every year, so any disruption to basic services like water can quickly cause headaches for both travellers and the thousands of people who work there daily.
The airport confirmed the problem was being looked into as a matter of urgency, though it did not immediately give details on what had caused the supply to be affected or how long the issue was expected to last.
For passengers already dealing with the usual stresses of travel, queues, and security checks, the added inconvenience of limited water access was far from ideal. Staff on the ground moved quickly to make sure people were not left without drinking water while the situation was being sorted out.
Bottled water distributions at large public venues are relatively rare but not unheard of, and airports in particular have to maintain strict contingency plans for exactly these kinds of infrastructure hiccups given the sheer volume of people passing through their doors at any given time.
Gatwick has not indicated that any flights were affected by the water supply problem, and the terminals continued to operate as normal in all other respects.
The airport said it was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and would provide updates as the investigation progressed.