Flooding

SEPA is Scotland's flood warning authority. We operate  flood warning services in partnership with local authorities and the police. This includes Floodline; a 24 hour telephone information service covering all of Scotland, through the monitoring of river levels, rainfall, tidal predictions and weather forecasts.

SEPA is also responsible for providing advice to local authorities on flood risk for planning purposes, and advice on flood prevention. This section explains how we work with other organisations to manage flood risk in Scotland, as well as a range of hints and tips on how you can prepare for flooding.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act came into force on Nov 26 2009 and transposes the EC Floods Directive into national law and streamlines the process by which local authorities prepare flood schemes.

It also places a duty on the Scottish Government, SEPA, Scottish Water and local authorities to better co-ordinate the assessment and management of flood risk. Whereas current policy focuses on river and coastal flooding, the Act covers all sources of flooding, including overloaded sewers.

In addition SEPA will be required to carry out a national assessment of flood risk by 2011, produce new flood risk and hazard maps by 2013 and put in place Scotland's first national flood risk management plan by 2015.

We will be regularly updating our website to reflect changes, consultations and engagement opportunities and you can also register to be kept updated by signing up for bulletins here.