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Final weekly water scarcity report for 2025 shows further recovery over the last week

The Spey, Deveron and Ythan have recovered to Alert, joining the Firth of Tay at this level.

The Findhorn, Don (Aberdeenshire), and Tyne (Lothian) have recovered to Early Warning.

The Earn, Thurso, Orkney and Shetland have recovered to Normal Conditions.  

The rest of the country remains at Early Warning or Normal Conditions. 

Peter Wright, Unit Manager in Regulation, Business and Environment, said: 

"Following recent rainfall and improving river conditions, all abstraction restrictions across Scotland have now been lifted. Over the next week, SEPA will issue communications to agricultural businesses with abstraction licences, advising how future significant water scarcity situations will be managed. This will help businesses plan ahead, consider future land use, and manage their activities and land in a more climate-resilient way. 

“SEPA will continue to engage with businesses and their representatives to encourage sharing of best practice, assessing the lessons learnt from a challenging year and support those who are challenged by the impacts of climate change. 

“Periods of water scarcity are becoming more frequent as our climate changes, and SEPA is committed to working with sectors across Scotland to ensure our water resources are managed sustainably for the future. 

“It is vital that we use the lessons from this year to ensure Scotland’s water resources are managed sustainably for the future."

Notes to editors

Water scarcity levels

• Early Warning: Conditions are drying. No action required, but abstractors should start preparing. 
• Alert: Water levels are falling. SEPA advises voluntary reductions in non-essential water use for abstractors. 
• Moderate Scarcity: Environmental impact is clear. Action from abstractors is expected to protect rivers and the species that rely on them. 
• Significant Scarcity: Critical river levels. Restrictions on abstraction licences may be imposed.

Data sources

• SEPA Water Scarcity situation report - 30th October 2025
• SEPA’s river level network - Find Scottish water levels information
• Rainfall data for Scotland - Scottish Rainfall Data
• DRAT - Water scarcity data - provided by Scottish Environment Protection Agency 

DRAT stations, Q95 and Significant Scarcity

Anyone can track conditions via SEPA’s Drought Risk Assessment Tool (DRAT), which shows colour-coded stations across Scotland and how close they are to Significant Scarcity.  

Clicking on an individual station will show how many days it has been below Q95, a recognised low flow threshold. When a station reaches 30 days the catchments linked to the station will be moved to Significant Scarcity, and SEPA will move to impose any restrictions required.     

DRAT is a network of flow gauging stations that SEPA monitor across Scotland and are used to set significant water scarcity when flows have been low for a sustained period of time.  

Data has been collected at these stations for a long period of time, so this allows us to give context to what is currently happening with the amount of flow in rivers relative to what you would normally expect.  

The river flow stations are each used as a representation of the conditions over an area, called a significant water scarcity area. The area and representative gauging stations are displayed on the tool. 

Each station may represent a single river or a group of catchments. For this reason, the number of DRAT stations and areas at Significant Scarcity may be different. 

Further support and useful links

The National Water Scarcity Plan explains how water resources will be managed prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather. This is to ensure the correct balance is struck between protecting the environment and providing resource for human and economic activity. 

Report dry private water supplies and rivers and burns in your area to help SEPA assess water scarcity stress. 

All water abstractors should be aware of the risk of water scarcity, monitor their water use, and plan ahead for a range of weather conditions. Find further advice for abstractors and irrigators on our website.