Scotland's water scarcity alert could 'escalate quickly' amid hot weather, SEPA warns

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Parts of Scotland has been issued an early water scarcity warning that experts predict will intensify in the coming weeks.The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has raised the alert for most of the country, as Northern Scotland saw its driest Spring since 2018.

According to the Met Office Spring weather analysis, Scotland saw less than half its usual rainfall in May.Several lochs are exhibiting low water levels and Scots are being urged to use water sensibly, as use is currently straining sources.

With fine weather set to continue, SEPA warned the water scarcity situation could continue.Spokesman for the Water Scarcity team at SEPA, Stephen McGuire, said: "Initially, there were early warnings of water scarcity in the north and west of the Scotland with rainfall and river flows low for the time of year.

But in recent weeks we have experienced more rapidly drying conditions and river levels are now very low across much of Scotland.“We have already issued alerts for water scarcity in the northwest and south central areas, and with little rain in the immediate forecast we expect the situation to escalate quickly and extend across a much wider area in the coming weeks.