Science1 publisherNot yet confirmed elsewhere3 min readPublished
Lundy pumps its wildlife ponds after a record-dry summer drained reservoirs to 13%
Lundy is pumping wildlife ponds into its water supply after the hottest, driest summer on record drained the island's reservoirs to 13%. Ferry deliveries meet under a fifth of demand and stop this month, and Lundy's managing director says an evacuation decision is close.
The Scientist · Science desk
What happened
- Managing director Derek Green said Lundy has had no significant rain since April and barely 20% of the 1.5m it would normally have received by now.
- Shipments on the MS Oldenberg began in August with a 67,000-litre first load costing about 7,000 pounds, the largest delivery so far.
- Islanders are using between 9,000 and 11,000 litres of water a day.
- Pumping pond water through the treatment works has brought the reservoir back up to 23.7% full.
- A landslip in June closed part of the granite track to the village at the top of the island, about 400ft above sea level.
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Why it matters
- constraint Rain alone will not end the shortage quickly, because BBC meteorologist David Braine said refilling the groundwater and reservoirs would take weeks, and the ponds have to cover that gap too.
- cost Shipped water came to about 10p a litre on the first load, before the labour of tanking it halfway uphill and pumping it by fire hose to the reservoir.
- decision Green said the pond water is what keeps Lundy open, so the rate at which the ponds fall now sets the timing of any decision to close the island.
Three ferry runs of 4,000 litres a week come to 12,000 litres [27]. Over the same seven days the island gets through 63,000 to 77,000 litres [28], so the boat has met roughly 16% to 19% of demand [29]. Even the first load in August, the largest, covered six or seven days of use [30].
The rest has come out of storage. The reservoir bottomed at 13% [9] and has gained 10.7 percentage points since water from wildlife ponds started going to the treatment works [10][32]. The BBC report does not give the reservoir's capacity, so neither percentage converts into days of supply. Green said the ponds have started to drop [12]. "Hopefully the reserve in the pond will last until it rains but because it hasn't rained in so long, this is desperate measures," he said [13].
Hauling the shipped water is slow. The island has a granite track and a handful of vehicles: three 4x4s, tractors, quadbikes and a fire engine [20]. "We have to offload the tanks off the ship and we have to bring them up to a staging post halfway up the hill," Green said [22]. "We then have to pump water with a fire hose past the vulnerable part of the road to another tank where it's then staged pumped to the reservoir at the top." [23]
Demand has been cut where it can be. Island manager Matt Scantlebury, who called the shortages a "logistical nightmare", said the pub, The Tavern, has closed its toilets and removed bath plugs [24]. "People are showering with buckets to catch the water and then using that to flush the toilets and that's saving water," he said [25].
Lundy, owned by the National Trust and managed by the Landmark Trust, is entirely self-sufficient for water, drawing on rain and on boreholes drilled into the granite [4][5]. Shortages are not new there, and islanders and visitors have fallen back on bottled water before [6]. Green called this summer, the hottest and driest on record, a "steep learning curve" [8]. "Bringing in pond water is something we've never had to do before," he said. "It's really our last chance saloon here." [11]
The BBC also reported that the dry spring and summer followed record rainfall late in the winter [16]. Record rain followed by a record-dry summer is the strongest evidence in this account that a rain-fed site cannot plan on an average year. It is one year of data. It shows how fast the island's buffer drains when rain stops for months, and showing that past rainfall no longer works as a planning baseline for sites like Lundy would take a longer record than one season.
Islanders are "praying for rain", Green said [26]. "We've got a working farm here and the animals need water every day... so to evacuate those animals, those people and to cancel all those holiday is something that has never happened in the history of Lundy before," he said [2]. "It would be hugely significant... we're on the cusp of having to make that decision." [3]
What to watch
- Whether forecast rain reaches Lundy before the seasonal ferry stops later this month, given Braine's estimate that recharging storage takes weeks.
- How fast the wildlife ponds fall from here, since Green said they have already started to drop and they are the last reserve.
- Any Landmark Trust announcement on cancelling holidays or moving residents and farm animals off the island.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
"If we didn't do this, we would be facing the reality of closing Lundy... it would be devastating for us."
ReportedSupportedSource: Derek Green via BBC2 sources— create a free account to open themView cited source - [2]
"We've got a working farm here and the animals need water every day... so to evacuate those animals, those people and to cancel all those holiday is something that has never happened in the history of Lundy before."
ReportedSupportedSource: Derek Green via BBC2 sources— create a free account to open themView cited source - [3]
"It would be hugely significant... we're on the cusp of having to make that decision."
ReportedSupportedSource: Derek Green via BBC2 sources— create a free account to open themView cited source - [4]
Lundy is a 5km long island in the Bristol Channel off the north Devon coast; it is owned by the National Trust and managed by the Landmark Trust.
- [5]
Lundy is entirely self-sufficient for water, relying on a combination of rainwater and boreholes drilled into the granite.
- [6]
Severe water shortages on Lundy are not new; islanders and visitors have previously resorted to bottled water.
- [7]
Lundy managing director Derek Green said there had been no significant rainfall since April and the island had barely seen 20% of the typical 1.5m of rain it expected by this time of year.
- [8]
The hottest and driest summer on record has been a "steep learning curve" for islanders, said Lundy managing director Derek Green.
- [9]
Reservoir levels dropped to 13% at their lowest, forcing emergency shipments of water from the mainland to the 28 people who live on the island.
- [10]
The island is pumping water from ponds used by wildlife to a treatment works as a "last resort".
- [11]
"Bringing in pond water is something we've never had to do before," Green explained. "It's really our last chance saloon here."
- [12]
Green said pond levels had started to drop and the seasonal passenger ferry that has been shipping water to the island is due to end later this month.
- [13]
"Hopefully the reserve in the pond will last until it rains but because it hasn't rained in so long, this is desperate measures," he said.
- [14]
The use of pond water led to some recovery in reservoir levels, now at 23.7% full.
- [15]
BBC meteorologist David Braine said there was some rain in the forecast for Lundy but it would take weeks to top up the groundwater and reservoirs the island relied on.
- [16]
The very dry spring and summer followed record rainfall in the later part of the winter, and it was only in March when most reservoirs were full.
- [17]
Shipments of water on passenger ferry the MS Oldenberg from north Devon began in August; the first delivery of about 67,000 litres was the biggest and cost about 7,000 pounds, said Green.
- [18]
Since the first delivery, 4,000 litres of water have been shipped to Lundy three times a week.
- [19]
Islanders use between 9,000 and 11,000 litres of water a day.
- [20]
The island only has a granite track and a handful of vehicles, including three 4x4s, tractors, quadbikes and a fire engine.
- [21]
A landslip in June closed off part of the track to the village at the top of the island, about 400ft above sea level.
- [22]
"We have to offload the tanks off the ship and we have to bring them up to a staging post halfway up the hill."
- [23]
"We then have to pump water with a fire hose past the vulnerable part of the road to another tank where it's then staged pumped to the reservoir at the top."
- [24]
Island manager Matt Scantlebury said the shortages had been a "logistical nightmare" and that the island's pub, The Tavern, closed toilets and removed bath plugs to conserve supplies.
- [25]
"People are showering with buckets to catch the water and then using that to flush the toilets and that's saving water."
- [26]
Green said islanders were simply "praying for rain".
- [27]
Regular ferry shipments deliver about 12,000 litres a week.
- [28]
Island water use is about 63,000 to 77,000 litres a week.
- [29]
Regular ferry deliveries meet roughly 16% to 19% of weekly demand, under a fifth.
- [30]
The first 67,000-litre delivery equalled about six to seven days of island use.
- [31]
The first delivery cost about 10p a litre.
- [32]
Reservoir levels have recovered 10.7 percentage points from their low.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- bbc.co.ukPuffin island on cusp of closure as it runs out of water
1 article · October 6, 2026
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