Water scarcity report - 18 September 2025
Findhorn (East), River Avon, Lower Spey, Deveron, Ythan, South Ugie Water, Upper and Lower Don (Aberdeenshire) remain at Significant Scarcity.
The River Findhorn, the River Lossie, Lower Dee and Water of Feugh, Lunan Water, North Fife, Leven (Fife), East Neuk (Fife), Tyne (Lothian), Upper Tweed, and Mid-Tweed and Lauderdale have all recovered from Significant Scarcity.
The rest of the Findhorn and the Spey, as well as the Dee (Aberdeenshire), Esk (Angus), Firth of Tay and Tyne (Lothian) at Moderate Scarcity. Helmsdale, Conon, Firth of Forth, Almond and Tweed have recovered to Alert.
Thurso and Orkney have been raised to Moderate Scarcity while Wick and Shetland have been raised to Alert joining the Naver which remains at Alert.
The Shin and Inverness (East) have recovered from Moderate Scarcity to Early Warning joining the Earn which remains at Early Warning. The Tay, Cree and Clyde catchments have recovered from Early Warning to Normal conditions, and the rest of the country remains at Normal conditions.
Situation summary
Findhorn (East), River Avon, Lower Spey, Deveron, Ythan, South Ugie Water, Upper and Lower Don (Aberdeenshire) catchments remain at Significant Scarcity.
The River Findhorn, Lower Dee and Water of Feugh, Lunan Water, North Fife, Leven (Fife), East Neuk (Fife), Tyne (Lothian), Upper Tweed, and Mid-Tweed and Lauderdale have all recovered from Significant Scarcity.
The Brodie area of the Findhorn catchment reached Significant Scarcity within the last week as did the River Lossie, but both these areas have since recovered.
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 | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
The rest of the Findhorn and the Spey, as well as the Dee (Aberdeenshire), the Esk (Angus), Firth of Tay and Tyne (Lothian) remain at Moderate Scarcity. Thurso and Orkney have been raised to Moderate Scarcity due to very dry conditions and extremely low river flows. Orkney will reach significant scarcity in the coming week if it does not experience sufficient rainfall to recover. This is due to a prolonged rainfall deficit throughout the year, where rainfall from January to August 2025 has been approximately 25% below the long-term average. All months this year, except June, have recorded lower-than-average rainfall.
The catchments of Helmsdale, Conon, Firth of Forth, Almond and Tweed have recovered to Alert due to recent rainfall.
Wick and Shetland have been raised to Alert because of very low river flows. These areas join the Naver, which remains at Alert.
The Shin and Inverness (East) have recovered from Moderate Scarcity to Early Warning as recent rainfall has led to some recovery in these areas. The Earn catchment remains at Early Warning.
The catchments Tay, Cree and Clyde have recovered from Early Warning to Normal conditions, and the rest of the country remains at 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
Showery rain across West Highland and the Northern Isles on Thursday, this dying out this afternoon, otherwise dry. Some patchy rain at first in the west on Friday, and rain may linger across the far south until afternoon. Widespread rain is likely to spread northwards into southern and eastern Scotland on Saturday, occasionally heavy. Rain will clear away east on Sunday followed by showers. Fewer showers are expected 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 | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency 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.
Recent rainfall has recovered much of the country to normal conditions for the 30-day average. In Shetland, the north and northeast, conditions remain dry to extremely dry, while parts of the south are showing wet conditions. River flows in the north, east, southeast and central areas have been low to very low, while in the west they are mostly normal to high.
Rainfall over the last three months has been very dry to extremely dry in the northeast and very dry in the southeast. Central areas remain dry while western areas are showing wet to very wet conditions. Elsewhere, conditions have recovered to normal. River flows display an east-west split, very low in the east and normal to very high across much of the west.
Over the last six months, the east has been dry to very dry, with the northeast being extremely dry. Much of the rest of the country has been normal, with the west seeing wet to very wet conditions. River flows across the whole east of the country are extremely low and central areas are very low. The west and southwest show a range of conditions from low to high river flows.
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). The Thurso, Deveron, Ythan and Firth of Tay catchments have very dry ground conditions. Ground conditions across the rest of the north and east of the country are generally dry, while western Scotland has no soil moisture deficit. The rest of the country is quite dry.
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.
Despite the recent rainfall, due to the lack of recharge over the autumn and winter, groundwater levels across most of the country remain low to very low for the time of year.
A number of locations in Fife and Angus, and the Ythan catchment in Aberdeenshire, have recorded their lowest levels for August on record. In addition, Newton of Falkland in Fife and Murton Nature Reserve in Angus have recorded their lowest ever levels in their 28-year and 17-year records respectively.
Without significant rainfall, groundwater levels are expected to continue to fall over the autumn.
August average loch levels are low in the northeast of Scotland with levels elsewhere between normal and high.
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