Water companies in the south of England may be given emergency powers to deal with the lack of water after one of the driest winters in recorded history.

Southern Water has already applied to the Environment Authority to get a drought order which will enable the water firm to reduce the flow of water into rivers in the area and another company, Folkestone and Dover Water, has asked to be able to force water meters on households.

The shortage is so serious that the Environment minister Elliott Morley is considering a raft of measures to persuade people to fit water meters. He told the Observer newspaper that metering was the fairest way to go, saying, "…there are arguments about whether we give people a free allocation and then ratchet it up if you go into ‘super-use’. I think that's the way we are going to have to go."

Some companies have already introduced a hose pipe ban but the applications to enforce further reductions in usage could be very unpopular.

Powers to reduce water levels in rivers are only used infrequently and are highly controversial because of the potential threat to fish and riverbank wildlife.

Enforcing people to use water meters will be even more unpopular. Although cheaper for small households, large families with young children or others who use a lot of water, such as keen gardeners dousing their lawns, are usually better off with a flat fee. So far in Britain, nobody has been forced to use water meters and the government thinks such a move would be detested.

However a 'scarcity status' level awarded to a water company would enable it to force people to have water meters fitted. That level of powers would likely only be granted if the water company could demonstrate the threat to its supplies was permanent.