Water scarcity report - 30 October 2025
The Spey, Deveron and Ythan have recovered to Alert, joining the Firth of Tay at this level.
The Findhorn, Don (Aberdeenshire), and Tyne (Lothian) have recovered to Early Warning.
The Earn, Thurso, Orkney and Shetland have recovered to Normal Conditions.
The rest of the country remains at Early Warning or Normal Conditions.
Situation summary
Recent rainfall has allowed for partial recovery in the northeast. The River Avon and Lower Spey catchments, as well as part of the Ythan, have recovered from Significant Scarcity to Alert. The Deveron, the rest of the Spey, and Ythan have recovered from Moderate Scarcity to Alert due to an improvement in soil moisture conditions.
Recent rainfall has improved ground conditions in the Findhorn, Don (Aberdeenshire), and Tyne (Lothian) which has allowed recovery from Alert to Early Warning. The Earn, Thurso, Orkney and Shetland have recovered to Normal Conditions due to an improvement in both river flows and soil moisture conditions.
The rest of the country remains at Early Warning or Normal Conditions.
This report marks the end of weekly water scarcity reporting for 2025. It has been a significant drought year for eastern Scotland, with some rivers in the northeast experiencing the highest number of low flow days on record. These rivers have records spanning several decades and include other major drought years. Groundwater levels reached record lows during August and September. Rainfall and snow over autumn and winter will be critical for the water scarcity risk into 2026. This period typically has the highest rainfall, which helps replenish groundwater and lochs levels. Sustained wet weather will be necessary to reverse the deficits accumulated throughout 2025. Without adequate replenishment, these deficits are likely to persist into 2026 for eastern Scotland.
Our next report will be published at the end of autumn and will summarise how weather conditions during September, October and November have impacted water resources across Scotland.
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
Overnight, the rain will clear from most areas, although it will linger over Shetland into Friday morning. A few showers are likely early on Friday before another band of heavy rain quickly spreads east, with the heaviest rain expected in the west. Saturday looks set to bring further wet weather as another band of heavy rain moves northeast across Scotland, reaching the far north by the evening. Further south, there will be some drier intervals mixed with showers once main rainband clears. The unsettled theme continues into Sunday and Monday, with showers and occasional longer spells of rain, although the east may see some brighter, drier spells on Sunday.
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.
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 improved conditions across much of Scotland, with most areas now showing normal rainfall for the past month. Parts of the northeast and central belt remain quite dry. River flows in the northeast and southeast are still very low, while the rest of the east shows low to quite low levels. The west has experienced mostly normal conditions, with high to very high flows in the far west.
Rainfall over the past three months has been extremely dry in Moray and very dry in Edinburgh, with the wider east mostly dry but showing some recovery to quite dry or normal conditions. Orkney, Shetland and much of the central belt remain dry. The rest of the country has seen normal rainfall conditions, with Skye and the Western Isles experiencing wet conditions. River flows have been very low to low across the east and central belt, and mostly normal to high in the west.
Over the past six months, the east has been quite dry to very dry, with the far northeast extremely dry. Elsewhere, conditions have been mostly normal to wet. River flows remain very low to extremely low in the east and low in the central belt, while the west ranges from normal to very high.
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 across the east of the country are mostly quite dry with the northeast and Firth of Tay being dry. The rest of the country 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.
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