Water worries worsen as Sepa escalates alert levels in more Highland Council communities
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FURTHER parts of the Highland Council area have been raised to the second highest water scarcity warning level by Sepa.
In its latest water scarcity report, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, said recent thunderstorms have done little to alleviate water levels in the region and warned that forecasts for June and July suggest the situation is not likely to improve any time soon.
All parts of mainland Scotland, the Hebrides and Orkney are now on 'alert' or higher. Only Shetland remains on the lower "early warning" level.
Much of south-west and central Scotland has also now been raised to "moderate scarcity", an amber-coloured alert that is the second highest behind "significant scarcity".
The Loch Maree, Loch Torridon, Gairloch and Loch Ewe area is the only part of Scotland at the highest "significant scarcity" level - an alert it has now been at for more than a week.
The River Ness catchment also remains at its previous alert level of "moderate scarcity".
But further areas covered by Highland Council have now joined the Ness on this warning level - with Skye, Raasay, Scalpay and the Small Isles having also been raised to the same "moderate scarcity" alert; as too have Mull, Coll and Tiree in the Argyll and Bute Council area.
Sepa's latest water scarcity report said: "The Loch Maree area remains at Significant Water Scarcity due to prolonged extremely low river flows in the area.
"The isolated thunderstorms in the north earlier in the week have done little to alleviate the overall water scarcity situation. The Ness area remains at Moderate Water Scarcity with the Inner Hebrides now also escalated to Moderate level.
"Southwest and central Scotland are also continuing to experience very low river levels and a further drying of ground conditions. As a result, in addition to the Esk area of Dumfries-shire which remains at Moderate water scarcity, the whole of the southwest, along with the Clyde, Leven, Awe and Etive, and Tay areas have increased to Moderate Water Scarcity.
"Due to the widespread hot, dry weather persisting over the last week, the rapid drying of ground conditions has continued. This, combined with low river flows, has meant the majority of the rest of Scotland remains at Alert level, and the Ythan & Don in Aberdeenshire and the Kintyre Group in Argyll and Bute have increased to Alert level.
"The hot weather is expected to persist in the coming week with showers developing on Saturday and Sunday. Some areas may experience locally heavy showers, which are most likely across the west.
"The anticipated average rainfall over the coming days is expected to do little to alleviate the current water scarcity situation and dry weather is expected to dominate into late June and early July. If there is no recovery in river levels there will be several areas seeing Significant Water Scarcity in the coming weeks, starting with the Esk area of Dumfriesshire next week.
"If rivers remain at very low flows for more than 30 consecutive days there is a heightened risk of severe, long-lasting ecological impact."
