Freshwater reports and studies carried out by Marine Scotland: EIR release

Information requested

Any reports or studies that Marine Scotland Freshwater Section has carried out or have on the following 

1. What studies have been done or are available that have monitored over periods of 12 months or more, groundwater levels, variability and stability across various geographical and soil structure types in Scottish river catchment areas?

2. Has any long term studies been done/recorded detailing in the varying levels of groundwater in any river valley areas showing the influence of dry periods versus periods of heavy rain?

3. Has any studies been conducted that monitor the impact of snow melt on major salmon rivers in Scotland, accepting that snow fall various in volume and intensity from one year to the next?

4. Has any studies been conducted or reports available that show the long term impact of water abstraction by boreholes in any river system in Scotland, and in particular areas of low rainfall and shallow soil deposits above bedrock?

5. Has any studies been carried out and available that show the impact borehole water abstraction by on Salmonoid numbers and fresh water mussel beds?

6. Has Marine Scotland done any exercises to ascertain how much freshwater would be required to produce hydrogen in line with the Scottish Governments policy of hydrogen production to replace fossil fuels?

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Before answering the questions, we would like to clarify that: “Marine Scotland” is now known as the “Marine Directorate.” This is in order to align with the naming convention of other Scottish Government Directorates.

Research and monitoring relating to freshwater is undertaken within the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries delivery area. As your question has explicitly stated “Can you please supply me with any reports or studies that Marine Scotland Freshwater Section has carried out or have on the following?”, we are responding only on behalf of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries delivery area.

The answers to your questions are provided below.

1. What studies have been done or are available that have monitored over periods of 12 months or more, groundwater levels, variability and stability across various geographical and soil structure types in Scottish river catchment areas?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested above. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to provide some additional information that may be of interest.

Groundwater level monitoring data may be held by other organisations including British Geological Survey (BGS), Scottish Water or Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). You may wish to contact any of the above public bodies directly.

British Geological Survey (BGS): https://www.bgs.ac.uk/about-bgs/contact-us/freedom-of-informationact/

Scottish Water: https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Access-to-Information

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA): https://beta.sepa.scot/about-sepa/access-toinformation/

2. Has any long term studies been done/recorded detailing in the varying levels of groundwater in any river valley areas showing the influence of dry periods versus periods of heavy rain?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested above. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to provide some additional information that may be of interest.

There are relatively few studies on this specific topic in Scotland. You may be interested in some of the work from researchers at the University of Aberdeen, School of Geosciences including:

Soulsby, C., Scheliga, B., Neill, A., Comte, J.-C., & Tetzlaff, D. (2021). A longer-term perspective on soil moisture, groundwater and stream flow response to the 2018 drought in an experimental catchment in the Scottish Highlands. Hydrological Processes, 35(6), e14206. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14206

There are also a wide number of studies where hydrological tracers (chemistry or isotopes) rather than groundwater wells have been used to assess groundwater contributions to streamflow under varying hydroclimatic conditions. These types of studies may also be of interest to you. For example:

J.L. Stevenson, I. Malcolm, D. Tetzlaff, C. Soulsby (2024) Hydroclimatic non-stationarity drives stream hydrochemistry dynamics through controls on catchment connectivity and water ages, Journal of Hydrology, Volume 635, 131214, ISSN 0022-1694, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.131214

3. Has any studies been conducted that monitor the impact of snow melt on major salmon rivers in Scotland, accepting that snow fall various in volume and intensity from one year to the next?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested above. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to provide some additional information that may be of interest.

The Marine Directorate does not hold any information on the specific effects of snow melt on major salmon rivers. However, Marine Directorate scientists have undertaken research on the effects of flow regime and hydraulic habitat on salmon populations, and also undertaken research to understand how river temperatures are changing over time. Both flow regime and river temperature are affected by snow melt, so you may be interested in the following published papers:

Glover RS, Soulsby C, Fryer RJ, Birkel C, Malcolm IA. Quantifying the relative importance of stock level, river temperature and discharge on the abundance of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Ecohydrology. 2020; 13:e2231. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2231

Jackson, F. L., R. J. Fryer, D. Stirling, and I. A. Malcolm. 2025. “ The Influence of Equipment Bias on Reported Temperature Trends: Implications for River Temperature Monitoring Networks.” River Research and Applications 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.70012.

4. Has any studies been conducted or reports available that show the long term impact of water abstraction by boreholes in any river system in Scotland, and in particular areas of low rainfall and shallow soil deposits above bedrock?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested above. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to provide some additional information that may be of interest.

Information on abstractions and river flows may be held by SEPA or Scottish Water. Refer to FOI links above if you want to contact these organisations for further information.

5. Has any studies been carried out and available that show the impact borehole water abstraction by on Salmonoid numbers and fresh water mussel beds?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested above. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

6. Has Marine Scotland done any exercises to ascertain how much freshwater would be required to produce hydrogen in line with the Scottish Governments policy of hydrogen production to replace fossil fuels?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested above. Therefore, we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to provide some additional information that may be of interest.

Although the Marine Directorate Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries delivery area do not hold this information, there is a dedicated Hydrogen Team within the Directorate for Energy and Climate Change of the Scottish Government. You may therefore wish to refine your query and redirect it accordingly.

Please find information on how to do this below:

https://www.gov.scot/about/contact-information/how-to-request-information/

Please direct any emails to the following address: contactus@gov.scot

ANNEX 1

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

The Scottish Government does not have the information

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about groundwater levels, abstraction, the influence on salmonids and the use of water in the production of hydrogen, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.