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Water scarcity report - 31 July 2025

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

Isolated showers on Friday and Saturday, otherwise dry. A band of rain will move east early on Sunday followed by drier weather and the odd shower. Widespread rain, occasionally heavy, is likely to move north and east on Monday but some uncertainty in track and accumulations at this stage.

Advice for water users

We advise water users, including those with private water supplies, to be aware of the potential risk of water scarcity this summer, and for businesses to plan ahead where possible. 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. 

The last month of rainfall shows mostly normal conditions across Scotland. Wet conditions are present in a part of western Scotland, while quite dry conditions are observed in some parts of the Outer Hebrides, central and eastern Scotland. River flows over the past 30 days continue to display an east to west split across Scotland. Eastern areas seeing very low to quite low flows, while western areas and the Northern Isles generally have normal to very high flows.

Rainfall over the last three months shows a slight east to west split across Scotland. Western Scotland is mostly normal to very wet, while parts of the east remain quite dry to very dry. River flows for the last three months remain extremely low to very low in the east, while the rest of the country generally shows normal to very high river flows.

Rainfall over the past six months show mostly extremely dry to dry conditions in the east and south of Scotland, with mostly quite dry to normal conditions in the northwest of the country. River flows across much of the country remain extremely low to very low for the past six months, although the Hebrides, Shetland and west Scotland show quite dry to normal conditions.

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 average groundwater and loch level for June 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.

Locations in Fife have recorded their lowest levels for June on record and in its 28-year record the Newton of Falkland borehole has only recorded levels this low once before. The borehole at Murton in Angus has also recorded its lowest level for June in its 18-year record. Without significant rainfall, groundwater levels are expected to continue to fall over the summer.

Based on the June average loch levels from our monitoring points show very low levels in the northeast of Scotland with loch levels elsewhere between normal and very 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