{"id":929398,"date":"2026-10-11T20:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T20:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/929398\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T20:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T20:32:11","slug":"rapid-showers-and-no-flushing-toilets-drought-pushes-lundy-island-to-the-brink-devon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/929398\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapid showers and no flushing toilets: drought pushes Lundy island to the brink | Devon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Carr was peering up at the clouds scudding around the island of Lundy<\/a>, 10 miles off the coast of north Devon. \u201cThat one\u2019s definitely got rain in it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe mainland will be wet at the moment. And look over at Wales \u2013 it\u2019s getting a real soaking just now.\u201d<\/p>\n

But above Lundy<\/a> the sky was, stubbornly, blue. No significant rain has fallen here since the start of May, leading to perilously low water levels. Restrictions have been put in place, visitor numbers limited and there has been talk of the island \u2013 home to 28 people \u2013 being evacuated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenge,\u201d said Carr, a conservation farmer who looks after sheep, cattle and ponies. He has been here more than 20 years and reckons the combination of the climate emergency and the topography of the granite outcrop, which soars out of the Bristol Channel, is the problem.<\/p>\n

Engineer Tristan Howes inspects a water tank. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is here, it\u2019s happening. We\u2019re having hotter, drier summers. And when the rain clouds do come in, they tend to split as the approach the island and we stay dry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-mile long island, famed for its puffins and its pirate past, relies on rainwater and five boreholes. The biggest rain catchment area is in the south. From there \u2013 when it does rain \u2013 water tumbles down to a collection tank near the harbour. It is then pumped up to an array of tanks and a purification plant near the old lighthouse.<\/p>\n

A tractor pulls water containers on Lundy. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The island manager, Matt Scantlebury, said a fortnight ago the tanks were at 13% capacity \u2013 only enough water to keep the island going for about a week. Tonnes of water was being brought over in 1,000 litre containers on the island boat, the MS Oldenburg, to top up the supply.<\/p>\n

The campsite, which is popular with climbers once the cliff-nesting seabirds have gone, was shut. The toilets at the island pub, the Marisco Tavern, were closed. Bath plugs in holiday lets \u2013 up to 110 people can stay here \u2013 were taken away and people were asked to think twice before flushing toilets.<\/p>\n

Happily, on the day the water reached its low point, the island received confirmation that the water in one of its freshwater pools \u2013 called Pondsbury \u2013 was of a good enough quality to be used.<\/p>\n

Visitors arriving at Lundy, which is owned by the National Trust. Tourist numbers have been limited because of the water shortage. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

About 12,000 litres of water has been taken from there every day since and the levels are back up to 22.5%. But now the pond is starting to run dry. \u201cAnd still no proper rain is forecast,\u201d said Scantlebury. \u201cWe know we have to find ways of future proofing ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, a new 300,000-litre water tank has been ordered. The idea of a desalination plant \u2013 seawater is one thing the island is not short of \u2013 has been suggested but Scantlebury said it would be expensive and would probably need more energy than the island was capable of producing.<\/p>\n

Tristan Howes, the island\u2019s engineer, said finding ways of conserving the little water Lundy had was crucial. \u201cA dripping tap can lose a lot of water,\u201d he said. A broken pipe would be a disaster.<\/p>\n

Depleted water levels at Pondsbury pond. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Staff have got used not only to having a rapid shower but catching the water they use in a bucket and using it to flush the toilet. \u201cIt\u2019s about being as efficient as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, visitors to Lundy, which is owned by the National Trust and managed by the Landmark Trust, tend to be the sort who don\u2019t mind a little bit of hardship.<\/p>\n

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Michelle Phillips, an animal lover keen to see the island\u2019s ponies, and her husband, Fred Bullinaria, arrived for a day trip with 1.6 litres of water, four Lucozades and a tube of hydration tablets in their backpacks. \u201cI think that will keep us going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Vick and Ed Crane were staying on Lundy for a few days to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. They had bought wet wipes to limit their water usage. \u201cWe don\u2019t mind roughing it,\u201d said Vick. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the Lundy experience. It\u2019s an adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

1,000-litre containers have been used to replenish water supplies on the island, which usually relies on rainwater and five boreholes. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The residents are positive, always looking for the bright side.<\/p>\n

Tara McEvoy-Wilding, assistant warden on the island, said some creatures had done well from the hot summer. \u201cIt\u2019s been a good year for butterflies and moths.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it has also been a good summer for the Lundy cabbage, a primitive brassica that grows only on the island. \u201cIt\u2019s quite a pioneering species and likes dry bare ground where there isn\u2019t much vegetation,\u201d said McEvoy-Wilding. \u201cHundreds of tiny cabbage plants have started to establish in areas where they wouldn\u2019t normally. So that\u2019s positive, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Workers top up a water tank. Photograph: Jim Wileman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

McEvoy-Wilding said residents had become accustomed to using less water. \u201cYou\u2019re more mindful \u2013 you only have a short shower and you don\u2019t always flush the toilet. In a way it\u2019s not a bad thing. It makes you think about how much water you could be saving every day by just making very small changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean that McEvoy-Wilding is not hoping for rain. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how little rain we\u2019ve had. We had one day in August when it rained for an hour. Absolutely torrential. I was caught in it and got drenched but the ground was so dry it just poured off the island.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got an allotment and it\u2019s been hard to keep my vegetables alive. The pumpkins aren\u2019t anywhere near as big as normal. Some nice, steady rain would be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Carr was peering up at the clouds scudding around the island of Lundy, 10 miles off the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-929398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}