BBC An aerial shot of the Deveron, with parts of the river bed showing. There is a golden field at the top right of the picture with a farm vehicle on it, next to some dry land, and there is a green field at the bottomBBC

The River Deveron is at its driest level for five decades

Restrictions have been imposed on the use of water near a third Scottish river after it reached its lowest levels since the 1970s.

The catchment area around the Deveron, in Aberdeenshire, has been moved to siginificant scarcity – the highest level of alert.

There will be restrictions to limit the removal of water from the natural environment around the river for industry and agriculture, a process known as abstraction.

It comes the day after the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) introduced curbs due to significant scarcity on the Ythan and North Fife catchment areas.

This alert means that rivers have reached a critical level after being very low for 30 or more days.

The Deveron from another angle, with the river cutting through fields and trees

Sepa’s head of environmental performance, Chris Dailly, said river flows were at record lows.

“This is the driest we’ve seen this river (the Deveron) since the 1970s and it highlights how climate pressures are changing water availability in Scotland,” he said.

Sepa has warned that unless there is sustained rain in the coming days, there could be significant scarcity around other rivers in the east of Scotland this week.

The areas at risk include the Don and the Lower Tweed.

The agency says it will monitor the impact of the rain which is expected in the coming days as the remnants of ex-Hurricane Erin reach Scotland.

An aerial shot of a combine harvester in a field next to the River Deveron, with dry grass on the right

Sepa said every month of 2025 had been drier than average on Scotland’s east coast, and that rivers had been unable to recover despite short bursts of heavy rain in recent weeks.

The restrictions being imposed around the three rivers were described by Sepa as being “essential to safeguard the environment, wildlife and communities that depend on healthy rivers”.

It stressed that the curbs were temporary and would be lifted as soon as conditions allowed.

Scotland has not had a hosepipe ban since 1995 and there are no plans to introduce one.

The latest figures from Scottish Water showed the average reservoir levels in the east of Scotland last week were at 56% – some 25% below the usual figure of 81%.