Rural Payments and Services

The aim of this item is to improve water-use efficiency by collecting and storing water in an irrigation lagoon. This will also help to protect water quality at times of low water availability due to low river flows.

The land must be within a catchment which drains to water bodies that are significantly impacted because of abstraction for agriculture.

This item can stand alone or be part of a wider application. Standalone irrigation applications will be assessed on their own merits and against other standalone irrigation lagoon applications if budget pressures constrain our ability to approve applications.

Standalone Irrigation Lagoon applications (lagoon and underground drainage only) and applications for Irrigation Lagoons that also include AECS management proposals must be submitted in the in the main Argi-environment application window (23 February 2026 to 20 June 2026). For the avoidance of doubt there is no separate application window for irrigation lagoons in AECS 2026.

You can check if this option is available on your holding using the targeting tool which can be found in the Management Options and Capital Items page.

• The application must contain a summary of the business and its activity including details of the crops to be irrigated and any existing water storage facilities that are used for irrigation purposes;
• You must provide a map clearly showing the proposed location of the lagoon and any existing irrigation lagoon(s) (where applicable);
• You must produce a diffuse pollution steading assessment if the lagoon will be filled from water collected from steading roofs;
• If the lagoon is distant from the steading and not filled from water collected at a steading then there is no need for a diffuse pollution steading assessment;
• You must provide full detail in a management statement of how the proposed lagoon is to be filled (method) and any overflow managed. The management statement must include the design and dimensions of the lagoon (width, length and depth), the storage calculations including current and proposed storage, the calculated water usage (using appropriate local rainfall figures) and also detail the current (where applicable) and proposed irrigation method(s) e.g. piped underground irrigation system, mobile reels etc. A map should be provided to support the management statement;
• You must hold an abstraction permit or registration (as appropriate) from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and a copy of the permit or the permit number or registration should be provided with the application. If you do not currently hold a permit or registration authorisation from SEPA, you would need to apply to SEPA for the required authorisation and have the permit or registration in place and be able to provide this to your local RPID office by the end of September in the year of application submission. Note: Permit level applications can take up to 4 months to be assessed and granted or refused by SEPA. It’s therefore important that discussions with SEPA and any subsequent permit application is submitted as soon as possible.
• The lagoon must be off-line (i.e. there should be no impounding works which hold back flows in wetlands, rivers, lochs and estuaries). SEPA should be contacted by email at srdp@sepa.org.uk for advice to ensure that environmental standards for the proposed site are being met and to allow any feedback to be incorporated into design/location;
• Where proposed location of any lagoon is on, adjacent or near to a designated site or scheduled ancient monument, Nature Scot and or Historic Environment Scotland should be contacted for comment and any mitigations required reflected in the application;
• The Agriculture, Land Drainage and Irrigation Projects (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations apply therefore you must obtain planning permission, or have confirmation from the planning authority that planning permission is not required for your proposed lagoon. Confirmation from the planning authority that planning permission will or will not be required should be presented with the application however in recognition of lead in times to gain confirmation we can accept presentation by 30 September at the latest. Letters or other communications that suggest that the works may come under various planning class provisions are not acceptable. Where full planning permission is confirmed as a requirement for your project, you will not be issued with a contract until you have obtained planning permission and evidenced that to your case officer. Applications that do not require planning permission will be subject to screening under the Agriculture, Land Drainage and Irrigation Projects (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations as part of application processing. Where local authority confirmation that planning is not required is not presented with the application, the screening process will be delayed until that confirmation is received which may lead to delays in contract issue.
• Where a proprietary lining is used, a receipt for the liner will be required.

Note that successful stand alone irrigation lagoon applicants in 2026 will be issued with contracts in early 2027. The expectation is that work must be completed by the 31 December 2027 and claim submitted by the 28 February 2028.

Irrigation lagoon

The maximum payment for this option is restricted to £40,000 per business:

• £2.94 per cubic metre without a proprietary liner
• £8.20 per cubic metre with a proprietary liner

Collection of run-off from farm steading roofs:

• underground drainage – £35.46 linear metre

The inspectors will check:

• the location and extent of any irrigation lagoon
• that you have a receipt for a proprietary liner
• the length in metres of drainage to the lagoon
• the lagoon is offline and there are no impounding works which hold back flows in wetlands, rivers, lochs and estuaries

Supporting guidance is available for this item.

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