Rivers Annan and Nith in the South of Scotland at the highest water scarcity alert

Two rivers in the South of Scotland are now under the highest level warning for water shortages.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has said the rivers Annan and Nith "are now in a Significant Water Scarcity situation due to prolonged extremely low river flows in the areas."

The Esk area in Dumfries and Galloway had been placed at significant, but has been downgraded to "moderate" after Sepa reported there had been an improvement in water levels.

Elsewhere in Scotland, the Black Isle and Western Isles are also in high alert, with the Highlands' Loch Maree area being at that level for four weeks.

It follows Scotland's hottest June months on record, and a drier than normal winter and spring.

Sepa has been issuing weekly warnings about the risk of water shortages during June.

It has been recorded that there were widespread showers across Scotland this week, with particularly heavy rainfall across central and western Scotland.

It said this had resulted in some localised improvement in conditions.

Sepa added that there had not been enough rain for large-scale recovery, and was possible six more areas in Scotland could be escalated to significant Water Scarcity in early July.

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