‘Significant’ water scarcity warning to be issued for Sutherland river ‘next week unless flows improve’, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) warns after increasing alerts this week for Caithness’s Wick and Sutherland’s Helmsdale catchments
Water scarcity in a north river could be raised to the highest alert level next week - unless flows improve.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) made the warning after raising the alert level for the Helmsdale and Wick catchments to “moderate scarcity” on Thursday despite the recent breakdown in the exceptionally dry spring weather.
And in its report it warned that the River Helmsdale catchment will have to be raised to “significant scarcity” - the highest possible alert level - this time next week unless flows recover.
The slightly more unsettled weather in June means further rainfall is expected in the coming days - but whether that will be enough to begin to offset one of the driest springs in recorded Scottish history, remains unclear.
In its latest report on Thursday, there was mixed news for Highland catchments, with the damper weather helping the Conon, Beauly and Ness river catchments all recover from “alert” to “early warning” level, as too did the north-west Highlands area.
But the Helmsdale and Wick catchments rose from “alert” to “moderate scarcity”, and the Thurso, Naver and Oykel catchments remained unchanged at “alert”.
A Sepa spokesperson said: “The recent rain has meant that improvement has been seen in the Conon, Beauly, Ness, Forth, Annan, Nith, Dee (Galloway), Cree, Doon, Clyde, Irvine and Ayr catchments which have all recovered from alert to early warning.”
“In the west, the Firth of Clyde, Northwest Highlands and Kintyre have recovered from alert to early warning, with the catchments Leven (Dunbartonshire), Argyll Coast, Loch Linnhe, Loch Alsh and the Inner Hebrides all recovering from Early warning to Normal.”
They continued: “However, some areas of the north and northeast are still at risk of reaching significant water scarcity. If river flows in these areas remain very low, the Avon catchment in the Spey, the Lower Dee and Water of Feugh in Aberdeenshire, and the Helmsdale catchment will be raised to significant scarcity next week.
“Further rain is forecast in the coming week, however well above average rainfall will be required for water scarcity levels to recover after such a prolonged dry period, especially in the parts of the country where rainfall has been limited in previous weeks.
“The east of Scotland has seen its second driest spring in 100 years and there are some parts of the east coast that have had below average for the last 12 months.”