A utility giant has urged residents to ”capture and reuse water” to avoid a hosepipe ban amid record levels of dry weather.

South East Water sounded the alarm with a yellow warning for much of Kent, amid England’s driest spring in over a century, with more hot weather forecast for this week.

The warning - which tells people to ‘be water smart and keep use to a minimum’ - applies to large swathes of the county, including Canterbury, Herne Bay, Ashford, Tenterden, Maidstone, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells.

Last month saw the greatest demand for drinking water the company has seen, reaching 635 million litres in one day alone.

The average daily tally for the first 10 days of June was 575 million litres.

The warning on its website explains: “This means we really need you to be mindful of your water use to help keep the taps flowing for everyone.”

According to the Met Office, this spring ranks as the sixth driest since records began in 1836, with just 128.2mm of rain.

While some recent wet weather has eased things slightly, rainfall remains 40% below the long-term average, meteorologists say.

Temperatures are also predicted to be above-average again this week with some parts of the south east likely to hit 30C by Friday.

This has triggered both a thunderstorm warning and prompted the UK Health Security Agency to issue a yellow heat-health alert in place from 9pm tomorrow (Thursday) until 8am Sunday.

Nick Price, South East Water's head of water resources, said: “Met Office reports show that spring 2025 has been one of the warmest and sunniest on UK record, particularly in south east England.

“This combination of warm temperatures and sunshine, coupled with very low rainfall, has created challenging conditions across much of the country for water resources.

“We have seen demand for water increase to the highest levels we have ever seen for this time of year, reaching 635 million litres in May, 91 million litres a day more than the yearly average.”

Water levels, says South East Water, were in a ‘healthy position’ going into spring, but the company admits that these are now dropping as a result of some very dry months.

And while the firm would not be drawn on the likelihood of an imminent hosepipe ban - Nick Price said customers should cut back to prevent further restrictions.

He added: “We would encourage customers to think about their water use, capture and reuse it wherever they can and keep it to a minimum.

“Reusing cooking water in the garden and shortening showers are both great ways to save water and money. Swapping the hosepipe for a watering can can save as much as 200 litres every 15 minutes.

“We would like to thank customers who have been acting on our water efficiency campaign and making simple changes to how they use water.

“Making these small changes now helps keep the taps flowing for everyone and prevents further measures.”

The distinct lack of rain prompted the Environment Agency to convene a National Drought Group meeting last week - where water companies were asked to share contingency plans and latest water levels.

The government says experts will now continue to meet every fortnight together with increased monitoring of river and groundwater levels across the country.