Most toilets had reopened across both the North and South terminals on Sunday evening, with the remaining facilities expected to return to normal for the first of Monday’s flights.
Toilets could not be flushed and hand-washing facilities were either not running at all or running with low pressure since Sunday morning.
Passengers posted online saying they were also unable to get coffee or fill up their bottles from water fountains.
Bottled water was available for passengers.
Flights were unaffected.
Vanessa Brown-Ofoedu, a passenger flying to Palma on the Spanish island of Mallorca, told Sky News there had been a “massive queue” at the toilets and said it was “starting to smell quite a bit like sewage”.
“I don’t know how long the airport’s going to remain open if they can’t get the water back on anytime soon,” she said.
She added: “The toilets now are completely closed. They’ve put wet floor signs outside to stop access and there’s a guy standing outside the toilet to make sure no one’s going in.”
She said “people are really fed up and I think kids are getting really restless as well”, saying one child was “bursting to go to the toilet”.
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Nick Hollings, a passenger flying to Florida, said: “I had to beg to be able to go to the loo. They weren’t letting anybody in. It’s chaos.”
He added: “All the shutters are down on the restaurants. People can’t get coffee. Obviously they can’t make any fresh food. You can still get a sandwich, but that’s about it.”
Announcing that the water had been restored, 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.
“Most toilet facilities are now open and we expect all toilets – as well as food and beverage outlets – to be open for tomorrow’s (Monday’s) first flights. 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, which serves the airport, said: “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.
“We want to reiterate that our teams are working as quickly as they possibly can and we are grateful for everyone’s patience.”
