Future predictions of water scarcity in Scotland: impact on distilleries and agricultural abstractors: policy brief

• A five-month research project was undertaken to see what was known about water scarcity in Scotland and how it would affect the livestock, crop and distillery sectors. • There is a clear direction of travel understandable to focus group participants in terms of more frequent water scarcity, with knock-on effects in terms of costs for those who are in water stressed areas. • There is less consensus on how to respond to scarcity, with cost of efficiency and substitution measures being cited as major barriers to uptake

Future predictions of water scarcity in Scotland: impact on distilleries and agricultural abstractors

The aim of this project was to provide summaries of future predictions of water scarcity in Scotland and the impacts this may have, tailored to three groups of abstractors: crop producers, livestock producers and distilleries. The key questions addressed included: 1. How will water scarcity in Scotland impact the availability of surface waters and groundwaters for abstraction? 2. Considering question 1, how will this impact crop producers, livestock producers and distilleries in Scotland in the short (<5 years) and long term (>5 years)