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Water scarcity report - 08 May 2025

What do the map colours mean?

Normal conditions	Early warning	Alert	Moderate scarcity	Significant scarcity
Blue	Green	Yellow	Orange	Red

Water scarcity area descriptions

Weather Forecast

Mostly dry through the weekend.  A few light showers possible.

Advice for water users

We advise water users, including those with private water supplies, to be aware of the potential risk of water scarcity this summer, and for businesses to plan ahead where possible. 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.

Over the past month rainfall conditions have been dry across much of the east and north, with closer to normal rainfall across most of the rest of the country.  River flows are low across most of the country, with extremely low flows widespread across the east, north and far south-west, but with normal conditions in the western isles.

Over the last 3 months, very dry conditions have dominated, with some parts of the west being quite dry, but Aberdeenshire and the far north-east, as well as parts of the central belt and southern Scotland, being extremely dry.  This is reflected in the very low to extremely low river flows across much of the country.

Conditions are more mixed over the past 6 months.  The north of the country has generally seen normal conditions and river flows between normal and low, though the far north-east has been dry with low flows. The south, however, has experienced widespread very dry conditions, with some parts south of the central belt being extremely dry.  This is shown in the very low to extremely low river flows across the south.

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. 

Groundwater levels across the country remain generally low to very low for the time of year. This is due to significantly lower than average rainfall in recent months resulting in limited recharge over the winter and spring periods. Levels are particularly low across the east of the country and are lower than the same period in 2022. Groundwater levels in the Moray area remain normal or above.

Loch levels, from our monitoring points, are very low for this time of year across the far north, with levels elsewhere variable between normal and very low for the time of year.

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