Water scarcity report - 09 October 2025
The River Avon, Lower Spey and part of the Ythan remain at Significant Water Scarcity.
The South Ugie Water part of the Ythan, and the Deveron, have recovered to Moderate Scarcity, where the rest of the Spey remains.
The Upper and Lower Don (Aberdeenshire), Findhorn, Firth of Tay, Tyne (Lothian) and Orkney have recovered to Alert, joining Shetland.
The Naver, Thurso, Wick, Helmsdale, Shin, Conon, Dee (Aberdeen), Firth of Forth, Almond and Tweed catchments have recovered to Early Warning or Normal Conditions, where the rest of the country remains.
Situation summary
Storm Amy brought widespread rainfall over the weekend, helping promote some recovery of river levels and soil moisture conditions across several areas. However, rainfall totals varied significantly between west to east - with around 300 mm recorded on Skye, compared to just 17 mm in the lower Spey area over the past week.
The River Avon and Lower Spey catchments, as well as part of the Ythan, remain at Significant Water Scarcity due to continued low river flows.
SEPA have issued temporary restrictions on some licences to abstract water from the environment in the areas that have reached Significant Water Scarcity. For further information visit Significant water scarcity guidance.
The South Ugie Water part of the wider Ythan catchment, and the Deveron, have recovered from Significant Scarcity to Moderate Scarcity, due to improved river flows, joining the rest of the Spey, which remains at Moderate Scarcity.
The Upper and Lower Don (Aberdeenshire), and Orkney, have recovered from Significant Scarcity to Alert, due to improvement in both river flows and soil moisture conditions. The Findhorn, Firth of Tay and Tyne (Lothian) catchments have also recovered to Alert from Moderate Scarcity, and join Shetland at this level.
These areas remain vulnerable to water scarcity, and conditions could deteriorate quickly during any further prolonged dry periods. Water storage as groundwater remains very low for the time of year in the north-east, with some groundwater level monitoring locations reaching the lowest level in their 17-year records. To reverse rainfall deficits built up over 2025 and replenish water resources, above-average rainfall throughout this autumn and winter will be essential.
The Thurso area has recovered from Moderate Scarcity to Early Warning. The Dee (Aberdeen), Firth of Forth, Almond and Tweed catchments have recovered from Alert to Early Warning, and further north the Naver, Wick, Helmsdale and Conon catchments have recovered from Alert to Normal Conditions, and the Shin has recovered from Early Warning to Normal Conditions.
Other parts of the country remain at Early Warning or Normal Conditions.
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
Light and patchy rain in the southwest on Thursday with light rain and drizzle spreading eastwards into the north and northwest later in the day. Thereafter, high pressure builds from the south bringing largely dry conditions, with just a little light rain at times in the north and northwest, and possibly the east on Monday.
Advice for water users
Farmers and businesses in parts of eastern Scotland are facing water scarcity restrictions following prolonged dry weather that has caused areas to reach Significant Water Scarcity. For further information visit Significant water scarcity guidance and Advice for abstractors and irrigators.
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.
Much of the country has seen normal to wet conditions over the last month, though parts of the Moray coast around Spey Bay have been dry. Rivers have been very low across the north-east, in Orkney, and also in the south-east across parts of the Lothians and Borders, and are locally dry in the far north, but are generally normal to very high elsewhere.
Over the last three months, Moray has been extremely dry. Parts of Aberdeenshire and the Lothians, as well as the northern isles, have been very dry. Elsewhere, conditions have varied between wet and dry. Rivers have shown an east-west split, with very low flows in much of the east, but normal to very high flows in the west.
Over the last six months, the east of Scotland has been mainly quite dry to very dry, with extremely dry conditions in the north-east. The west has experienced mostly normal to very wet conditions. Rivers again show an east-west split, with extremely flow flows across the east and far north, with normal to very high flows in much of the west.
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
This map shows this week’s soil moisture deficit. This is obtained from the Met Office Rainfall and Evaporation Calculation System (MORECS). Ground conditions are dry across much of the east of the country, with part of the north-east remaining very dry. Western Scotland has no soil moisture deficit.
What do the map colours mean?
| Extremely dry | Very dry | Dry | Quite dry | No deficit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | Orange | Light orange | Yellow | Green |
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 remain very low in Aberdeenshire, Angus and Fife, with three further monitoring boreholes recording their lowest levels on record (Scotlandwell in Fife (27 year record); Prop of Ythsie and Redmoss in the Ythan catchment (both 17 year records)).
Despite the recent rainfall, levels are expected to remain low in these areas throughout the autumn. Longer term recovery will depend upon the amount of recharge over the winter period.
September average loch levels are generally very high in the west of Scotland and very low in the north-east and north.
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