Understanding the Vulnerabilities of Scotland’s Water Resources to Drought
Researchers from the James Hutton Institute, supported by Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS), have been working with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to better understand Scotland’s vulnerability to drought and how we can strengthen resilience in the years ahead.
The project involved an in-depth evaluation of Scotland’s national Drought Risk Assessment Tool (DRAT) used for identifying severe drought events in Scotland.
Testing DRAT has helped to build confidence in SEPA’s decision-making approach, outlined in the Scotland National Water Scarcity Plan. In collaboration with the University of Aberdeen and Hydro Nation Chair Program, a major achievement of the project was the analysis of a new daily dataset of water abstraction reports collected by SEPA and Scottish Water. This revealed that drinking water supplies make up the majority of Scotland’s consumptive water use. The research also showed that by 2050 Scotland is likely to see hydrological droughts occurring twice as often and lasting longer—changes driven mainly by climate change rather than increased water demand.
These insights are already contributing directly to national water resource planning and helping to ensure that Scotland is better prepared for future drought conditions.
Background
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Published on: 11 August, 2026