Under a joint initiative between SEPA and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute a water quality atlas for Scottish rivers has been produced.

Amongst its many monitoring activities, SEPA monitors water quality in 56 large rivers across Scotland under the Harmonised Monitoring Scheme, an international monitoring strategy examining river-borne inputs to seas.
These rivers have been monitored since the mid-1970s and provide an invaluable record of environmental change in Scotland.

Analysis of trends in these records supports two main conclusions:

• Climate change is already having an effect on Scottish rivers, with water temperature increasing in rivers across Scotland and river flow increasing in some places.
• Stewardship of Scotland’s water environment is working and improvements in water quality have been delivered through environmental regulation, cleaner technologies, improved sewage treatment and changes in agricultural practise.

Under a joint initiative between SEPA and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, a water quality atlas for Scottish rivers has been produced. Highlights are currently available on the SEPA website, and the full atlas will be available electronically in the autumn of 2009.