Statements : 2015

Flooding statement - 31 December

Vincent Fitzsimons, SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

Wednesday 30th December saw an exceptional flood event in Scotland, both in terms of its intensity and its spread across the country. The damage was done by a particularly intense period of rain from late evening on 29th December to mid-morning on 30th December.

   Read the full statement

Flood statement - 30 December

Vincent Fitzsimons, SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

“Heavy rain has fallen overnight as forecast. Some areas saw 100 mm in 12 hours, which is an exceptional amount of rainfall, especially over already saturated ground

“The main areas of concern in terms of flood impacts are Dumfries and Galloway, Western Borders Tayside and Gr    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook 29 December

Marc Becker, Hydrology Duty Manager at SEPA said:

During Tuesday evening heavy rainfall will come in from the west and remain overnight.

“River flooding is likely to cause disruption particularly in Dumfries and Galloway, but also in western parts of the Scottish Borders, and across large areas of western and central S    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook 28 December

Marc Becker, Hydrology Duty Manager at SEPA said:

“Today should be mainly dry with rain tonight spreading into Western areas of Scotland. There will be high winds today and, combined with high tides around midday, some isolated instances of spray and wave overtopping may lead to minor flooding of coastal roads around the Solway Firth.

Flood outlook - 26 December

Marc Becker, SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

As another band of rain slowly moves northwards throughout today, river levels are still responding to the heaviest downpours overnight, particularly in the Scottish Borders. While the heavy rain has the potential to cause significant flooding in parts of Scottish Borders, the    Read the full statement

Flood outlook - 23 December

David Faichney, Duty Hydrology Manager from SEPA, said:

“The unsettled wet weather is set to continue over the Christmas period as further bands of rain are forecast to affect parts of South West and Central Scotland. At present, localised flooding is expected across Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders overnigh    Read the full statement

Flood Outlook - 21 December

David Faichney, Hydrology Duty Manager from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

December’s unsettled weather continues. The rain earlier today has caused some rivers to respond already and with further heavy rain forecast for southern and western areas of Scotland overnight, river levels are set to contin    Read the full statement

Flood outlook - 18 December

David Faichney, Hydrology Duty Manager from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

From around midday today, western areas of Scotland are due to experience further heavy rainfall, especially in Dumfries and Galloway, Argyll and Bute, South Ayrshire and western parts of the Scottish Borders. The rainfall is    Read the full statement

Response to The Herald regarding Unconventional Gas

Following the publication of an article in The Herald on Saturday, 12 December, entitled “Watchdog accused of a lack of impartiality over fracking”, we thought it might be helpful to publish the full response which was provided to the journalist, as a limited amount was included in the content.

Energy is a reserved matter, therefore The D    Read the full statement

Flood outlook - 11 December - 12pm

Pascal Lardet, SEPA's Hydrology Duty Manager, said:

The improving situation is expected to continue over the coming days and we have now removed all our Flood Alerts and Warnings.

“Spells of rain, sleet and snow will continue across Scotland during Friday before becoming drier in the evening. River levels remain high i    Read the full statement

Flood outlook - 10 December

Pascal Lardet, SEPA’s Hydrology Duty Manager, said:

Frequent showers will affect most areas of Scotland during today and Friday, but overall we are expecting an improving situation.

“River levels currently remain high in Central, Tayside, and on parts of the Spey and around the Great Glen, but with no further significa    Read the full statement

Flood outlook - 9 December

Marc Becker, SEPA’s Hydrology Duty Manager, said:

Outbreaks of rain, accompanied by gale force winds, are expected across the country today with the heaviest and most persistent rain likely to fall across central Scotland and the western Highlands.

“Flooding impacts may affect communities and cause disruption to travel    Read the full statement

Flood outlook - 8 December

Marc Becker, SEPA’s Hydrology Duty Manager, said:

Overnight rainfall has further saturated catchments but, in general, river levels will continue to fall through the rest of today.

“However further wet and windy weather is expected again during Wednesday with a spell of heavy and persistent rain crossing the countr    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 7 December

Marc Becker, SEPA’s Hydrology Duty Manager, said:

Many areas of Scotland are still feeling the impacts of flooding from the weekend.

“During late afternoon today, a band of heavy rain is expected to spread across Scotland from the west. There is a potential risk of flooding in the Southern Uplands and Southern Highland    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook 6 December

Marc Becker, Hydrology Duty Manager at SEPA said:

 “This has been a particularly severe event with multiple parts of Scotland feeling the impacts of flooding.  The outlook is improving, rivers have peaked and will be falling back throughout the rest of  today, giving us some respite.  However, the impact of flooding with be with us for a    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 5 December

Marc Becker, SEPA’s Hydrology Duty Manager, said:

"Last night we saw heavy rainfall affect many central, southern and western parts of Scotland. Unfortunately the heavy and persistent rain will continue to affect much of Scotland during Saturday.

Across Scotland we have seen rivers have risen significantly overnight and they will c    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 5 December (4:45pm)

Marc Becker SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager said:

“Across Scotland rivers have risen significantly through Saturday and will remain very high throughout Sunday. This is causing widespread agricultural flooding but is now also widely impacting on transport and communities. We are particularly concerned that the flooding situatio    Read the full statement

Flood outlook - 4 December - 2pm

Marc Becker, SEPA’s Hydrology Duty Manager, said:

“Widespread flooding in parts of Scotland could affect some communities, and travel disruption is likely across many areas of Scotland over the coming days.

“During Friday persistent and heavy rainfall will move southeast across Scotland with gale force south-westerly winds. Rainfal    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 29 November

Richard Brown, Hydrology Duty Manager said:

"Today sees a similar picture to yesterday. High tides on the Scottish Coast coupled with strong winds could bring some impacts in low lying coastal areas.

"High tides in Orkney will be around 1115, and 2345 tonight, in Shetland around 1300 and in Portpatrick around 1330.  These could bri    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook 28 November

Here's today's statement on the latest picture.

Richard Brown, Hydrology Duty Manager at SEPA said: 

"High tides on the Scottish Coast coinciding with high winds means our focus is on the Northern Isles and the Solway Firth where this may cause some impacts in low lying areas.

"These could include flooding to low lying land    Read the full statement

Flood outlook 27 November

There are strong winds, heavy rain and high tides affecting parts of Scotland today and over the rest of the weekend.

Richard Brown, Hydrology Duty Manager said: 

"Winds are picking up throughout today and coinciding with some high astronomical tides along parts of the coast.  We’re paying particularly close attention to the coast    Read the full statement

Radioactive source found in Dalgety Bay mussel beds

Joint statement from Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Food Standards Scotland

Routine monitoring of the Dalgety Bay area, carried out as part of the joint Food Standards Scotland (FSS)/Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) radioactivity monitoring programme, has detected a radioactive source   in the mus    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 16 November

David Faichney, SEPA’s Duty Flood Manager, said: 

Following the extreme weather and high rainfall totals we’ve experienced over the weekend, it will be a generally improving picture over the next few days. River levels are generally falling, however larger rivers such as the river Tay and the River Teith at Callander will sta    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 15 November

David Faichney, SEPA’s Duty Flood Manager, said:

Last night we saw heavy rainfall pretty much as we expected, so far we’ve seen 40-50mm over parts of Dumfries and Galloway, and around 30mm further north over Ayrshire and into the Glasgow area.

The prolonged period of persistent rain is still causing some flooding probl    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 14 November

David Faichney, SEPA’s Duty Flood Manager, said:

A weather system will reach the UK this afternoon from the west bringing very wet conditions through until Sunday evening. This will cause significant flooding in parts of NW England and SW Scotland.

Very persistent rain through Saturday till later on Sunday across the s    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 13 November

David Faichney, SEPA’s Duty Flood Manager, said:

Now that storm Abigail has passed to the North of Scotland the winds are dying down in all but the very North and the Northern Isles.

 “Following last night’s storm surge along the south-west and western coastline, stormier conditions are expected to be largely confined    Read the full statement

Flood update - 12 November

David Faichney, SEPA’s Duty Flood Manager, said:

Storm Abigail, the first storm named as part of the Met Office’s Name our Storms Project, will bring severe south-westerly gales to Scotland from Thursday evening into Friday morning.

   Read the full statement

Flooding update 11 November

Nigel Goody, SEPA’s Duty Flood Manager, said:

“Storm Abigail, the first storm named as part of the Met Office’s Name our Storms Project, will bring severe gales to Scotland from tomorrow evening into Friday. As a result we are paying clo    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook -13/08/15

Vincent Fitzsimons, SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

“There is potential for localised flooding across the east of Scotland, and in Shetland, from the early hours of Friday morning due to very heavy rainfall.

“Rain, which will be very heavy at times, is expected to move into the east of Scotland from the south    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook statement - 18/07/15

Richard Brown, Head of Hydrology from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

"The heavy persistent rain experienced overnight is expected to clear throughout today with scattered showers across Scotland. More rain is forecast to arrive overnight into Sunday, with potentially heavy downpours in places, be    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 17/07/15

Richard Brown, Head of Hydrology from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

"The current band of heavy rain is expected to clear across Aberdeenshire and north eastern areas during this afternoon, with the potential for continued surface water flooding due to high rainfall totals overnight and this morn    Read the full statement

Flood outlook statement - 16/07/15

Richard Brown, Head of Hydrology from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

“Overnight into Friday morning, a band of heavy rain is expected to cross the country and may cause flooding issues across areas of Central Scotland, Tayside, Dundee and Angus, with a particular emphasis on urban areas, smaller watercourses and    Read the full statement

Bathing waters - statement regarding predicted classifications

Calum McPhail, SEPA Unit Manager in Environmental Quality, said:

Under the new directive, our estimates show over 75% of Scotland’s existing bathing waters would already meet the ‘excellent’, ‘good’ or ‘sufficient’ classifications. We expect further improvement this year, but some bathing waters are still unlikely to reach th    Read the full statement

Tullis Russell and RWE

SEPA has received a number of queries regarding how Tullis Russell and RWE are regulated now and in the future.

Tullis Russell and RWE hold separate Pollution Prevention and Control permits, and associated licences, for their operations and will still need to meet the licence requirements. Any complaints for either site will be dealt with    Read the full statement

Tribute to Dick Balharry

Many SEPA staff are mourning the sad loss of Dick Balharry, renowned Scots conservationist and former member of SEPA’s North Regional Board. Dick served as a Board Member from June 2000 until the Regional Boards were disbanded in June 2009.

Dick was hugely influential in developing SEPA’s thinking on protecting fragile but important habit    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 8 March

Richard Brown, SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

"River and loch levels in the North West of Scotland have risen to some of the highest levels we have on record and the River Ness will continue to rise today as yesterday’s rain and snowmelt water works down the catchments. This may cause flooding to    Read the full statement

Flood update 7 March

Richard Brown, SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

"Water levels in the North West of Scotland have risen overnight due to heavy rainfall and snowmelt, particularly in Skye, Lochaber, the Great Glen and the rivers Ness, Beauly, Conon, Shin and Spey. These are expected to continue to rise as the rain and milder temp    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 6 March

Richard Brown, SEPA’s Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

"Forecast heavy rainfall and very mild temperatures tonight and tomorrow will cause watercourses to rise in the North and West, particularly in Skye, Glencoe, Lochaber and the Great Glen.  Although such conditions are not unprecedented in this area, it is likely that flooding could affec    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 24 February

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Flooding Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

Rain is expected to spread across the country from the west during Wednesday and milder conditions will lead to a thaw of recent snowfall. Localised flooding of low-lying land and roads is possible during Wednesday and Thursd    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 23 February

Nigel Goody, Duty Flooding Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

Scotland has experienced some unusually high spring tides over the past few days. This is part of a natural cycle which occurs every 19 years due to the astronomical alignment of the Earth, moon and sun. These have had the effect of    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 22 February

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

Scotland has experienced some unusually high spring tides over the past few days. This is part of a natural cycle which occurs every 19 years due to the astronomical alignment of the Earth, moon and sun. These have had the e    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 21 February

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

Scotland has experienced some unusually high spring tides over the past few days and these will continue into Sunday. This is part of a natural cycle which occurs every 19 years due to the astronomical alignment of the Earth    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 20 February

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

Some unusually high spring tides will occur over the next few days. This is part of a natural cycle which occurs every 19 years due to the astronomical alignment of the Earth, moon and sun. This will have the effect of raisi    Read the full statement

Flooding outlook - 19 February

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

Unsettled conditions are expected over the next few days, with a risk of flooding in localised areas along the east coast. There is a risk of localised flooding to low lying coastal communities during today and Friday in Cai    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 15 January

David Faichney, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

"SEPA flood experts continue to keep a close eye on rivers in Easter Ross, Tayside and Dumfries and Galloway where we have seen high levels over the last twelve hours. 

The heaviest rain this afternoon will be over the Argyll, western    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 14 January at 11:30

David Faichney, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

“A band of heavy rain, preceded by some more snow, is expected to extend across Scotland on Wednesday evening and into Thursday. This will be accompanied by strong winds and we will see a complete thaw of the lying snow at lower levels. This    Read the full statement

Flooding Update - 13 January at 1400

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

“After a brief period of lower temperatures, milder and wetter weather is forecast for tomorrow evening which will bring in rain and see thawing in some areas.  Rivers are still high after the weather this weekend, and we expect them to    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 13 January at 1700

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

“We will be keeping a close eye on the Firth of Clyde through the coming days. A large storm surge is expected to coincide with the high tide in the Firth at around 7am on Thursday morning.  This could cause some minor flooding in low l    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 12 January

Vincent Fitzsimons, Duty Hydrology Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:

“The heaviest rain has now passed, and in the affected areas the forecast is for rain to turn to snow throughout today. The smaller burns and rivers will have peaked by now.

"We continue to keep a close eye on the River Spey at A    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 11 January

Vincent Fitzsimons, Hydrology Duty Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

"Flooding is likely across the country Sunday night into Monday morning due to a combination of rainfall and snowmelt. This will cause some travel disruption in known trouble spots on Monday morning and we encourag    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 10 January

Vincent Fitzsimons, SEPA's Duty Hydrology Manager, said:

"The risk of coastal flooding will reduce today, though there is still the chance of isolated impacts from wave overtopping. Rivers are peaking and levels will start to fall. There may still be some flooding of low-lying agricultural land and roads, and we have a number of alerts an    Read the full statement

Flooding update - 9 January

Vincent Fitzsimmons, Hydrology Duty Manager for the Scottish Environment Protection  Agency (SEPA), said:

“The main focus over the next few days is the very high winds which may cause some spray overtopping around Western, Northern, Moray and Aberdeenshire coasts. Flood alerts are out for these areas, but we do not expect widespread flood    Read the full statement