2026: Week 41 - Drought, Goats and U3A
It was announced last week that parts of Devon and Cornwall, including our area, are now classed as being in a severe drought status. Reservoir levels are dropping because water resources are being used faster that they are being replaced by rainfall.
Presently there is nothing more expected of consumers – we still have an active hosepipe ban in place and we should be using our water resources carefully.
When a severe drought status has been declared, it ensures that water companies take proactive steps to safeguard water before any disruption of supply occurs. Additionally, the following steps have been implemented.
Ministers are instructing water companies to conduct daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels and implement tougher water quality monitoring.
The Environment Agency will increase compliance checks on businesses that withdraw water from natural sources to ensure they are only taking permitted quantities of water; and local Resilience Forums are enabled to ensure quick and effective development of support if required.
Alongside these steps, the Water Minister Emma Hardy has instructed the Environment Agency to prioritise protecting public water supplies in areas affected by severe drought, where there is an unavoidable trade-off between environmental rules and water supplies. This means allowing water companies to keep more water in depleted reservoirs.
More urgently I will be meeting with the Environment Agency to discuss and check on the local situation.
You can find more detail here: Severe Drought Status - Newton Abbot Liberal Democrats or on my social media platforms.
All businesses rely on essential services such as water, and this was evidenced to me when I recently visited a local farm in Dawlish. This is a family run farm, and they have carved out a niche by supplying organic goat’s milk across the country. We discussed how consistent access to clean water is essential in the farming industry, even for smaller properties.
The family became tenants of the farm in 1990, but it quickly became clear that they would have to do something different in order for the small farm to remain viable. In 2003 they became Organic Certified and have held that certification ever since.
During my visit we discussed their frustrations with ever changing goalposts around funding and grants in agriculture, and how that affects the ability to successfully plan and create viable financial forecasts.
As a response to my visit and learning about the difficulties farmers are facing, I will be asking a question in Parliament about sustainable farming, to bring these issues to the attention of Government.
I'm always willing to listen to our local farmers, along with all local businesses, and will do all I can here and in Parliament to support and advocate for them.
Finally, I had an enjoyable afternoon with Teignmouth and District U3A. They had invited me to their 7th Anniversary meeting where I talked about being an MP, my life before parliament, including what had led me to become a councillor, and then subsequently stand as an MP. It was a lovely afternoon, and it was great to meet so many people who are passionate about learning new skills and sharing their life experiences and knowledge with others in their community.