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Water scarcity report - 29 October 2026

This week’s key changes

• Areas recovering from Significant Scarcity: Lower Tweed

• Areas recovering to Early Warning: Ythan, Firth of Tay, Tyne (Lothian), Tweed

• Areas recovering to Normal: Dee (Aberdeen), Esk, Tay, Earn, Firth of Forth, Almond

This report marks the end of weekly water scarcity reporting for 2026. It has been another significant drought year for eastern Scotland. Rainfall and snow over autumn and winter will be critical for the water scarcity risk into 2027. Our next report will be published at the end of autumn and will summarise how weather conditions over autumn have impacted water resources across Scotland.

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 – Significant rainfall over the past week, associated with Storm Austen and Storm Boelo, has brought widespread improvement in conditions across Scotland, although longer-term rainfall deficits remain in parts of eastern Scotland.

• River flows – River flows have responded to recent rainfall, with normal to high flows widespread across much of the country. However, some eastern catchments continue to experience low to very low flows.

• Soil moisture – Ground conditions have improved significantly following recent rainfall, with only isolated areas of quite dry conditions remaining in eastern Scotland.

• Groundwater and loch levels – Across the east of the country levels remain very low for the time of year. In Dumfries and Northern Scotland levels are within the normal range for the time of year. Loch levels show a mixed picture, with most sites normal to high levels. However, Lochindorb, to the east of Inverness, has a low level.

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

Weather forecast

Outbreaks of rain, some heavy, in the west on Friday. A band of patchy rain will push south Saturday. No rain is expected during Sunday and Monday.

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 conditions have been mostly normal or wet across the country. Very low to quite low river flows persist in parts of eastern Scotland, while the rest of the country has seen normal to very high flows.

Over the past three months, rainfall conditions have generally been normal to wet across much of the country, although a few isolated stations across the east still show dry conditions. In contrast, the north-west has generally experienced very wet conditions. Across much of eastern Scotland, river flows have remained very low, with a mixture of normal to low flows in the south-west. In the west and north, flows have generally ranged from normal to very high.

Over the past six months, rainfall conditions have been generally quite dry to very dry across much of eastern Scotland, with areas of the Central Belt and south-west also experiencing below-average rainfall. In contrast, northern and western Scotland have generally recorded normal to very wet conditions. River flows have been very low to extremely low across much of the east and parts of the Central Belt. Elsewhere, flows have generally ranged from normal to very high, although some areas of the south-west have experienced quite low 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. The maps are updated on the first full week of the month.

Despite recent rainfall groundwater levels remain low across much of the country. Across the east of the country levels remain very low for the time of year. In central Fife, levels at the Newton of Falkland borehole for September have only been lower in 2006 and 2025. Monitoring boreholes in Aberdeenshire, Angus and East Lothian were also very low for September. In Dumfries and Northern Scotland levels are within the normal range for the time of year.

Loch levels show a mixed picture, with most sites normal to high levels. However, Lochindorb, to the east of Inverness, has a low level.

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