A ban on Scots farmers taking water from the River Tweed in the Borders will come into force at midnight on Thursday, just as suspensions are lifted in Fife for the River Eden.
The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency has said river flows around Eden has made "some recovery", however, recent rainfall has not been enough deficits in the Borders.
The Rover Tweed continues to show signs of "stress" and suspensions are being imposed in parts of the River Tweed catchment from 23.59 on Thursday August 18.
Water levels at the River Eden peaked on Monday after several days of much-needed wet weather. They have since slowly fallen again but still remain nearly two-and-a-half times higher than they were on Saturday, before abstraction ceased and the rainfall arrived.
A total of 56 full suspensions and 23 partial suspensions were put in place on Sunday around the River Eden. All of them were lifted at 1pm today.
Last week in the Tweed catchment Mouthbridge at Blackadder Water dropped to its lowest flow since records began in 1974. Lyne Station recorded its fourth lowest flow in 53 years, only 2003 was lower.
Most businesses need water abstraction licences which are regulated by SEPA. Most farmers extract water from a natural source for agricultural reasons and could be used for drinking or irrigation.
Rob Morris, Senior Manager, Rural Economy Unit at SEPA, said: “We are so pleased with how farmers in the River Eden catchment responded to the urgent water scarcity situation. We thank them sincerely for doing the right thing and complying with the abstraction suspensions.
"We saw a significant 38% rise in the river level in just a few hours from when suspensions were imposed at midnight to when rainfall started later on Sunday afternoon. This shows the impact their actions had, and their support has been critical in allowing water levels to recover to a point where suspensions are no longer required.
“Suspending abstraction licences is only done when necessary and is not a decision we take lightly. While we stress that the suspensions on the River Tweed will last for as short a time as possible, the science is telling us that without action there is a substantial risk of impacts on fish populations, natural habitats and longer-term damage to watercourses. As shown in Fife, these will be in place for the shortest time possible.
“We’ll continue to monitor river levels across Scotland, and make our decisions based on science and the need to need to prevent long-term damage to local water environments that we rely on. With further dry weather in the forecast, it’s important that everyone abstracting water continues to manage their water use carefully.”
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