‘The wells are salty’: how the invading ocean is contaminating Vanuatu’s water

As the climate crisis causes the Pacific to rise, the archipelago's water is increasingly unsafe to drink

Church pastor Damien Hophand, who lives on the island of Malekula in Vanuatu with his wife and two children, has seen a change to the community's water supply recently - and it's not a welcome one. The wells are salty," says Hophand. It's not suitable for drinking."

While many on the archipelago of 83 islands of Vanuatu get all their water from pipes, some, such as Hophand, have to supplement this with water from a well or pump. As the climate crisis forces sea levels to rise and cyclone winds thrash along the bays, seawater is seeping into the groundwater sources of low-lying islands, contaminating the supply and threatening the health of communities.