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Water scarcity report - 02 July 2026

This week’s key changes

•    New areas raised to Moderate Scarcity: Findhorn
•    New areas raised to Alert: Dee (Aberdeen)
•    New areas recovered to Normal Conditions: Helmsdale, Shin, Earn, Clyde, Naver

Map and water scarcity levels

Use the drought risk assessment tool to explore conditions through our interactive map. This tool shows the number of days that river flows have been very low and is used to help identify areas at greater risk of long-term ecological impacts. When river flows have been very low for 30 or more days, Significant Scarcity is reached. Data is updated daily at 0930 GMT / 1030 BST.

Conditions overview

• Rainfall - There has been relatively high rainfall recently in western areas while most of the east has remained quite dry. In the long term, conditions have been notably drier in eastern coastal areas and Moray and wet in the west and Northern Isles. 
• River flows - River flows have largely been very low across eastern areas and very high in western areas over the past three months, although there have been mixed conditions in the central belt and across the Highlands.
• Soil/ground conditions - Ground conditions have generally remained dry across the east and parts of the north, with some areas in the east and northeast becoming very dry. There is no soil moisture deficit across the rest of the country.
• Groundwater and loch levels - Groundwater levels are largely normal across much of the country, although there are very low levels at some monitoring locations in Fife and Angus. 

Read in more detail our hydrological overview of the current conditions below.

Areas at risk of Significant Scarcity

Unless there is sustained rainfall Significant Scarcity could be reached within the next week in the following area: River Lossie. You can monitor this on the Drought Risk Assessment Tool.

Weather forecast

Rain will clear northeast through Thursday, otherwise mainly dry with a few light showers in the west. Spells of rain spread across from the west from Friday to Sunday, occasionally heavy and persistent for western hills but much drier in the east.

Advice for water users

Everyone should plan to increase their resilience to the impacts of prolonged dry conditions. By taking the right steps now, it could help reduce the impact of water scarcity in the future. For further information visit Advice for abstractors and irrigators

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Supporting information

This section goes into more detail on the data behind the water scarcity levels.

Rainfall and river flows

These maps show rainfall and river flows relative to the long-term average, for this time of year, over 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months.

Recent conditions across much of western Scotland have been wet, while parts of the east coast have been quite dry. The remainder of the country has experienced normal conditions. River flows in the west have been very high recently, while flows in the east have been low to very low and normal to high elsewhere. 

Over the past three months, rainfall conditions have been dry along the Moray coast and dry to very dry in Tayside and East Lothian. Normal to dry conditions can be seen across the rest of eastern Scotland and around the central belt. Western and southern Scotland have been wet to very wet. River flows in the east have been largely very low, and low to normal across central Scotland. In the west and south of the country the flows have been high to very high. 

Over the past six months, rainfall conditions along the Moray coast and across the central belt have been dry to very dry. In the northeast, Northern Isles and parts of the south, conditions have been wet to very wet. Normal rainfall conditions have occurred elsewhere. River flows have been very low to extremely low in the central belt and northeast, and very high in the east. Elsewhere, river flows have generally been quite low to normal. 

What do the map colours mean?

Rainfall	Extremely dry	Very dry	Dry	Quite dry	Normal Conditions	Wet	Very wet
River flow	Extremely low	Very low	Low	Quite low	Normal Conditions	High	Very high
	Red	Orange	Light orange	Yellow	Green	Light blue	Dark blue

Soil moisture deficit

Natural water storage – groundwater and loch levels

In each river catchment there is some degree of natural water storage, which can maintain river flows even when it is not raining. This natural water storage is mainly held in lochs and groundwater. When storage has been depleted it will take a lot of rainfall for levels to recover.

The maps below show recent groundwater and loch level compared to the long-term record at each individual station. Level is reported as high or low compared to the typical (‘normal’) level range for the time of year.

Level ranges are specific to each station and based on the long-term (minimum 10 years) record of mean monthly level values recorded at individual stations. 

Due to limited recovery over the winter and spring groundwater levels in Fife remain low to very low for the time of year - although they are slightly higher than at the same time in 2025. In all other areas levels remain normal or above.

Loch levels show a mixed picture, with several sites within the normal range and a comparable number at low or very low levels.

What do the map colours mean?

Very high	High	Normal range	Low	Very low
Dark blue	Light blue	Light green	Light orange	Dark orange

Flow, rainfall and groundwater data are accessed via SEPA's time series data service (API). SEPA's live data are subject to ongoing quality control and periodic review.

Scottish Water are responsible for public water supply and distribution in Scotland. Scottish Water reports on the raw water stored in these supplies.

Report copyright

• Current water scarcity levels - © SEPA. Some features of this information are based on digital spatial data licensed from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology © NERC (CEH). Contains OS data © Crown copyright (and database right).
• Areas of significant water scarcity - OS Data - © Crown Copyright - SEPA licence number 100016991 (2022)
• Rainfall, river flow, groundwater and loch levels - Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
• Soil moisture deficit - Data based on MORECS (Met Office © Crown Copyright). Some features of this information are based on digital spatial data licensed from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology © NERC (CEH). Contains OS data © Crown copyright (and database right). Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
• Weather forecast  - Crown copyright [2022], Met Office