Drought Risk Assessment Tool
The gauging station on Orkney is offline and the data has not been updated since 15/01/2026. SEPA is looking into it and will update the situation as soon as possible.
Available below are some data feeds SEPA has provided to support SEPA's advice for water users with regard to water scarcity. These show the number of days that river flows have been very low. Evidence has shown that the risk to river ecology is much higher as a result of prolonged low flows, and the longer this goes on the worse the impact will be.
Data feeds are updated daily at 0930 GMT / 1030 BST
Water scarcity levels are set weekly between May and September and published each Friday.
You can find information about water scarcity and frequently asked questions about the Drought Risk Assessment Tool on the SEPA website.
View drought risk assessment areas report View drought risk assessment areas on the map
| Drought risk assessment areas | Reference gauging station | Latest date (a) | Five-day mean flow (m3/sec) (b) | Days below low flow threshold (c) | Low flow threshold (d) |
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- Latest date will generally be reported as being one day behind the current calendar day. This is to reflect the last full day of recorded daily flow data. Data feeds are updated each morning at 0930 GMT / 1030 BST.
- Five-day mean flow (m3/sec) We use a rolling five-day average of the mean daily flow as a reference rather than the instantaneous flow rate at a station to avoid very short-lived increases in flows that would not be considered sufficient recovery.
- Days below low flow threshold this is the number of consecutive days the five-day average flow has been below the low flow threshold.
- Low flow threshold The low flow threshold is defined as the natural flow that would, on average, be exceeded for all but 18 days a year, but rarely on consecutive days. This value is also known as Q95. When flow is below this level for an extended period, impact on the aquatic environment will occur.
Download the data
The above data can be download in the following formats: CSV | XML | JSON
Disclaimer
Published by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
Contains SEPA data © Scottish Environment Protection Agency and database right 2020. All rights reserved.
This SEPA Data is licensed under the Open Government Licence 3.0 Whilst all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate for their intended purpose, no warranty is given by SEPA in this regard.