Climate Change Impacts On Scottish Reservoirs & How To Develop Business Water Contingency Plans

Although Scotland is renowned for its wet weather and abundance of water (so much so, in fact, that many people in the country don’t believe that future water stress and scarcity will affect them particularly), the region is still very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change… as the last 12 months has certainly proven.

Overall, 2025 was particularly challenging for the country, which saw its driest January to April period since 1964 (the 15th driest in the last 190 years). Meanwhile, the east of Scotland saw its driest January to August since 1959 (the fifth driest in the last 190 years).

In fact, both England and Scotland registered their warmest years on record in 2025, while Wales and Northern Ireland experienced their second warmest since 1884, according to the Met Office.

For Scotland specifically, persistently dry weather throughout the year (and in previous years) led to the Scottish Protection Environment Agency (SEPA) implementing water restrictions in some parts of the country come August, with the aim being to protect local river sustainability.

Yet despite drought conditions and water scarcity warnings issued with increasing regularity, figures from utility company Scottish Water shows that domestic and business customers across the country consumed 472 billion litres of water in 2025. 

This is the equivalent of approximately 189,000 Olympic swimming pools – or more than the total volume of water in lochs Katrine and Earn combined.

How did drought in 2025 affect Scotland’s reservoirs?

Scottish reservoirs were also badly affected by dry conditions, with Backwater in Tayside one of the worst affected, reaching its lowest recorded level in over 40 years, with storage at 31.3 per cent on October 30th.

Elsewhere, Watch Water and Hopes reservoirs in East Lothian saw levels fall to their lowest recorded levels in at least 30 years, with storage at 40 per cent and 43 per cent respectively.

And Fife’s Lomond Hills reservoirs hit their lowest combined storage in at least 30 years, registering storage levels of 21 per cent.

Because of these low reservoir levels and high demand for supplies (which were up by 100 million litres per day nationwide), Scottish Water had to consider a raft of measures to address the challenges.

This included potentially setting up a temporary pipe and pump network to transfer water into the Backwater Reservoir from the River Isla.

Speaking more generally, the impacts of climate change on reservoirs in Scotland (and elsewhere) include:

Rising water temperatures

Warming of standing water (such as that found in reservoirs and lochs) can promote algal blooms, affecting local biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as recreation and tourism opportunities.

Figures show that between 2015 and 2019, there was a rise in water temperature at 97 per cent of lochs and reservoirs in Scotland.

Degradation of water quality

Hikes in water temperature will affect nutrient availability and drive up the risk of water quality challenges in lochs and reservoirs, particularly issues involving cyanobacteria, which produces toxins that can cause a range of health problems, such as minor skin irritations, severe stomach upsets and potentially even death.

Compromised infrastructure

Physical damage can be sustained during periods of drought, with soil in earth embankments shrinking and cracking over time. This can result in the reservoir core drying out excessively, leading to leaks, weakness and vulnerability, and potential failure.

Silt and debris can also build up because of reduced water levels and increased erosion in the reservoir, reducing total water storage capacity and potentially affecting future drought management plans.

What does Scottish Water do to mitigate the effects of drought?

To help address the various challenges presented by water stress and scarcity in Scotland, caused in large part by climate change and rising global temperatures, Scottish Water has various strategies it can fall back on. 

These include:

Tankering water

By the end of November 2025, the water supplier had deployed 3,933 vehicles to tanker water to move water to parts of the country under pressure, totalling around 94 million litres (where the average tanker capacity is 24,000 litres).

Water conservation awareness campaigns

Scottish Water regularly carries out awareness campaigns throughout the year to encourage customers to use water resources more efficiently. 

And data shows that this is proving successful, with demand for water reduced by around 60 million litres per day in May last year, which is enough to supply approximately half of Fife with supplies for a day.

Collaboration with SEPA

Scottish Water works closely with SEPA to manage water resources and ensure sustainable public water supplies during times of water stress and scarcity, as set out in the country’s National Water Scarcity Plan.

Joint action includes:

• Monitoring river and groundwater levels to manage public supplies and update customers
• Working with businesses and major abstractors (like distilleries and agricultural organisations), as well as the general public, to promote water efficiency and prepare for potential water restrictions
• Regulating water abstraction licenses and implementing restrictions to prioritise essential usage
• Implementation of hosepipe bans or providing access to alternative water sources

The east coast of Scotland was particularly affected by drought last year, with 17 areas classified as facing Significant Scarcity in September, the highest number since the introduction of the National Water Scarcity Plan.

Responding, SEPA imposed temporary restrictions on licensed abstractions in affected regions, with the total number of restrictions implemented in 2025 peaking at around 270 – the highest number the organisation has ever issued.

How can businesses in Scotland become more water resilient?

In 2024, research from The James Hutton Institute found that the number of water scarcity events in Scotland could double come the year 2050.

The study showed that surface water scarcity events (where river levels fall to significantly low) could increase in frequency from one every five years to every other year… or even more frequent than that.

If this does transpire, it means that increasing numbers of restrictions will be placed on water usage and consumption to shore up supplies. 

As such, businesses would be well advised to devise their own contingency plans to ensure that they can continue to operate as they would normally, even in the face of water supply interruptions.

What is a water contingency plan?

A robust water contingency plan will ensure that your business can continue operating during water outages, minimising downtime and keeping everything running smoothly.

All businesses rely on water in one way or another, whether it’s for hygiene, sanitation, food production, manufacturing or something else. 

Without a contingency plan in place, you may face significant disruption, missing orders, sending staff home or even closing altogether, leading to potentially heavy financial losses.

To develop your contingency plan, you will need to:

• Have a water audit of your site carried out to determine water usage so you can build up an idea of how much water you’d need in an emergency
• Devise your plan based on this audit, including the delivery process, how much water your business will need and instructions to staff members so everyone knows their individual responsibilities

What to include in a water contingency plan

• Risk assessments, including all potential threat avenues (drought, contamination, supply failure, ageing infrastructure etc)
• Alternative supply arrangements, such as bottled water, tankers, water transfer and/or emergency supply partners
• Designate specific staff members for risk monitoring, communication, supply chain liaison and so on
• Carry out regular tests of processes and procedures to ensure that the contingency plan remains fit for purpose over time

How to improve business water stewardship

As well as having plans to fall back on in the event of water supply disruption to ensure business continuity, businesses should also improve their overall water stewardship in order to build resilience into operational systems.

Water stewardship itself is the responsible management of freshwater resources, supported by the key principles of ensuring fair access to all, environmental protection, supporting business operations and long-term prosperity, collaboration and local catchment condition accountability.

To improve water stewardship practices, businesses can:

• Measure their water footprint across the entire supply chain to identify areas of high water consumption and decide on the most efficient water-saving solutions
• Work with the supply chain to implement these water efficiency strategies
• Introduce new technologies to make operations more efficient (such as rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling and automated meter reading)
• Increase transparency to drive engagement with water-efficient practices

Get in touch

If you’d like to find out more about how you, as a business, can go about reducing your reliance on freshwater supplies, safeguarding resources for future generations and ensuring that you can continue operating even in the face of water outages, get in touch with the Switch Water Supplier team today.