River catchments in Edinburgh and the Lothians have been placed on ‘alert’ following a prolonged dry spell and lack of rainfall.
SEPA’s latest water scarcity report has confirmed ground conditions in Scotland have continued to dry out, with river catchments of the Firth of Forth, Almond and Tyne, which cover Edinburgh and and Lothians, placed on alert.
The environmental agency says significant rainfall in the next week is very unlikely as the next stage for some areas could be “moderate scarcity.”
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A river catchment is an area of land where water collects from higher areas above it. It’s usually surrounded by hills or mountains, which allows water to flow over the landscape and down into the soil, eventually finding its way to a river, lake, or reservoir.
The ‘alert’ stage follows both normal levels of water scarcity and an early warning. It comes after the warmest day of the year so far was recorded earlier this month in Scotland.
According to BBC Weather, sunny and dry spells are expected to continue for at least another week with highs of around 18C in Edinburgh until May 23.
On Thursday Scottish Water asked customers across the country to use water “more efficiently” amid “challenges” in maintaining normal water supplies due to warmer weathers.
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They added reservoir levels, the forecast for the foreseeable and an increased demand have prompted a first call to customers to be cautious. However, they confirmed there is “no impending crisis” or threat of a hosepipe ban.
SEPA’s latest water scarcity report stated: “Due to the continuing dry weather the area at Alert for water scarcity has expanded. A number of river catchments in south-west Scotland have been raised to Alert: the Nith, Dee (Galloway), Cree, Doon, Irvine and Ayr and the Clyde. Rainfall across Southwest Scotland was around half of the normal amount for April.
“Across the rest of the country, ground conditions have continued to dry out. The river catchments of the Shin, Naver, Conon, Spey, Deveron, Ythan, Don (Aberdeenshire), Dee (Aberdeenshire), Esk, Firth of Tay, Firth of Forth, Almond, Tyne (Lothian), Tweed, Esk (Dumfriesshire), Annan and Thurso remain at Alert.
“Elsewhere there has been no recovery and most other areas remain at Early Warning. Significant rainfall in the next week is very unlikely.”
More information and the latest report can be found here.