Scots Urged to Reduce Water Use as Climate Crisis Puts Supplies at Risk

Scottish households are being urged to cut back heavily on their water use and instead treat it as a precious resource owing to the growing threat to supplies from climate heating.

- Severin Carrell

Alex Plant, the chief executive of Scottish Water, said the average Scot used 40% more water than consumers in Yorkshire, partly because there was a widespread but mistaken assumption that water was abundant in Scotland.

In fact, the country was on the brink of severe water shortages earlier this year after the driest spring since 1964 – which Plant said was a taste of the extreme weather that will occur far more often in future.

In mid-May, a significant majority of Scotland's rivers were rated as either "exceptionally" or "notably" low, while reservoirs were at 77% capacity, well below their normal level for spring.