View from the Street: Scotland has 100 words for rain, but water remains a communications challenge
Published
Rebecca Mason
Dreich. Smirr. Stoatin’…
These are a few of many ways my wee Grannie Brown taught me to describe the Scottish weather. Turns out we have more than 100 words for it.
For generations, our nation’s misty glens, freshwater lochs and seemingly endless rainfall have captured the popular imagination. It is only fitting that we have such a rich vocabulary for our climate.
Given this familiarity with rain, a shortage of water doesn’t immediately spring to mind when we think about Scotland. But while our relationship with this precious resource is changing, our language and politics have yet to keep up.
On Tuesday, Edinburgh basked in unseasonable warmth as temperatures reached 22 degrees centigrade. By Wednesday, the heavens had opened. Last week, SEPA recorded significant water scarcity levels across parts of the east following Scotland’s joint-sixth hottest summer on record. And in 2025, Scots used an average of 178 litres of water each day – the highest of any UK nation.
Increasingly rapid switches between downpours and drought are exacerbating pressure on our water supplies, while exposing the vulnerabilities in the systems we rely on every day.
For around half of the world’s population, living with highly stressed water conditions for at least one month of the year is already a reality. This threat isn’t as far from our shores as we might think, and our own water security demands more attention.
Holyrood isn’t there yet. There is, of course, plenty else vying for political bandwidth. Rate hikes are adding to cost pressures for Scottish businesses. Rising energy bills and the relentless cost-of-living squeeze are both stretching household budgets to breaking point. At the same time, patients seeking answers are left in limbo as NHS waiting lists continue to climb.
But some of Scotland’s slower-moving challenges also demand legislation and strategic decision-making long before the eleventh hour. Water infrastructure resilience is an economic and social necessity – and one of the best insurance policies we can put in place today for the ambitions our nation wants to achieve tomorrow.
Take housing, for example. In its latest Programme for Government, the Scottish Government committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. As our population grows, so too does the strain on our systems. Without sufficient capacity, ambitions for housing delivery risk running up against the limits of our water infrastructure.
The same rings true for Scotland’s established and emerging industries. Last year, the country exported more than £5 billion worth of Scotch whisky – an industry whose ability to meet demand at home and around the world depends on a secure supply of this finite resource for distillation.
Scotland’s digital future will likewise depend on the infrastructure needed to power the next generation of start-ups, transform healthcare and modernise public services. With cloud computing and AI forecast to unlock £23 billion for the Scottish economy by 2035, ensuring sufficient water to support this growth must be considered from the onset.
Current water and wastewater policy is largely built around powers that pre-date the convening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
Modernising this legislative framework would provide regulatory certainty and incentivise Scotland’s producers and developers to invest in innovative water management and reuse systems, strengthening supply for our homes and businesses when demand rises and reserves come under pressure.
A strategic approach to planning that puts water resilience at the heart of regional decision-making on digital, housing and energy infrastructure would also help ensure that new developments are located in the right places for our environment, while giving the communities they serve the water security they need for the future.
So, if the Scottish Government is serious about building a Scotland that is prosperous and sustainable for years to come, it must better communicate why water is an enabler of economic growth that needs to be carefully managed.
That starts with changing how we talk about water.
If we’re no longer guaranteed to experience dreich, smirr or stoatin’ conditions, perhaps it’s time to reach for another Scots word: drouth – meaning thirst.