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Water scarcity report - 25 June 2026

This week’s key changes

• New areas raised to Moderate Scarcity: Tyne (Lothian)
• New areas raised to Alert: Conon, Findhorn, Don (Aberdeenshire), Tweed
• New areas raised to Early Warning: Shin

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 - Recent rainfall has been normal across most of the country. Longer term, drier conditions are evident in eastern coastal areas, with wetter conditions in the west.
• River flows - River flows are low to very low across eastern areas for this time of year. Drought in the east develops slowly due to lower-than-normal rainfall and limited recharge of water resources. For example, the Findhorn area, now at Alert, received only ~60% of average winter rainfall, followed by limited recovery in spring, leading to very low river flows.    
• 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.

Weather forecast

Occasionally heavy, thundery rain edging SE across Scotland through Thursday evening and overnight then returning back north or NE through Friday and gradually becoming lighter and patchier. Patchy morning rain on Saturday before more persistent, perhaps thundery rain edging into western and central Scotland through the afternoon and evening. Rain clears east overnight with a cooler, showery south-westerly airstream following for Sunday and Monday.

© Crown copyright [2026], Met Office                          

              

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 rainfall has been normal across most of the country, with isolated pockets of the east and northeast being quite dry to dry. River flows have been mostly low to very low across much of eastern Scotland with normal to high flows in the west, and very high flows in the southwest.

Rainfall conditions over the past three months have been largely dry to very dry in eastern coastal areas, particularly around the Firth of Forth and East Lothian, with parts of Aberdeenshire seeing more normal levels of rainfall. The west and north has experienced wet to very wet conditions. River flows have generally been low to very low in the east. The rest of the country has mostly seen normal to high flows. 

Over the past six months, the northeast has experienced wet to very wet conditions. Meanwhile, the Central Belt and parts of the north have had mixed conditions of normal to very dry. The rest of the country has experienced more normal conditions for rainfall. River flows have been high to very high in the northeast. Flows elsewhere are more mixed, ranging from normal to very low in the north and Central Belt. The rest of the country has generally seen quite low to normal 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

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. 

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