“SIGNIFICANT” rainfall in recent days has helped water levels recover on the River Tweed.

There are no longer any catchments in the ‘significant scarcity’ category across the country, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) latest report issued last week.

Bans on taking water were in place on the River Tweed in August.

The suspension of abstraction licences came after the River Tweed Commission (RTC) warned current water scarcity plans were inadequate to protect its fish stocks.

But concerns across Scotland have been eased following recent rainfall.

The SEPA report from Thursday (October 6) stated: “Significant rainfall over the past week has led to recovery across much of the country.”

READ MORE: Borders carer is struck off following hearing

It added: “Rainfall forecast for the next week suggests that further recovery is likely in some areas, although this could be limited in the east.

“Groundwater levels remain low or very low at all monitoring locations. A prolonged period of above average rainfall is required to offset this storage deficit.

“Longer-term rainfall deficits, low river flows and dry ground conditions persist in areas of the south-east and north-east of the country. A period of above-average rainfall is required to offset these deficits.”

The Tweed catchment has recovered to be in the ‘Early Warning’ category, rather than at the ‘Alert’ level, according to the report. The reports stated that the rainfall outlook for the September-November period suggested that across the UK average rainfall was “most likely”.

“Southern and eastern areas have an increased chance of dry weather continuing, while northern and western areas have most chance of seeing wet conditions,” it added.