Rural Payments and Services

This is an old version of the page

Date published: 1 January, 2015

Date superseded: 2 February, 2016

The aim of these rules is to protect water resources by licensing abstraction of water for irrigation.

You must:

1. comply with the authorisation procedures for abstracting water for irrigation. The procedures differ depending on the quantity of water involved:
- if you abstract less than (<) 10 cubic metres of water each day you have to follow General Binding Rule 2 (GBR 2). Complying with GBR 2 means there is no requirement to contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to register or apply for a licence

GBR 2 rules

You must be able to demonstrate that the abstraction is always less than 10 cubic metres in any one day (e.g. by measuring the rate of abstraction) or a means of demonstrating that the maximum volume that could be abstracted cannot exceed (>) 10 cubic metres in any one day.

Water leakage must be kept to a minimum by ensuring that all pipework, storage tanks and other equipment associated with the abstraction and the use of the water are maintained in a state of good repair.

- if you abstract >10 and <50 cubic metres of water each day you have to be registered with SEPA

- if you abstract >50 and <2000 cubic metres of water each day you have to obtain a Simple Licence from SEPA

- if you abstract >2000 cubic metres of water each day you have to obtain a Complex Licence from SEPA

2. comply with all the conditions of a water abstraction licence. Some of the conditions relate to:

• abstraction site
• abstraction periods
• maximum daily abstraction volumes
• you must submit an annual data return even if you don’t abstract any water