The Campaign to Protect Rural England (Kent) says that demand for water is now so high that it is the only county with a year-round deficit in the balance of river and groundwater resources.

The county has less than half the available water per person than African countries like Rwanda and Sudan, a new report warns.

The CPRE report, A Water Resource Strategy for Kent, claims the construction industry is making "woefully poor progress" in building homes with water-saving measures included and calls for leakage from pipes to be drastically reduced, compulsory water meters and water being brought into Kent from other areas of the country.

Six companies supply water to various parts of Kent and all are currently operating hosepipe bans. They are Mid Kent Water, Folkestone and Dover Water, Thames Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Sutton and East Surrey Water.

CPRE Kent argues that the water companies plans to increase water abstraction will not be enough in the light of proposals to build 122,000 new homes in the region and would only see the drought situation "severely exacerbated".

It calls for leakage from pipes to be drastically reduced, installation of compulsory water meters and water to be brought into Kent from other areas of the country.

Hilary Newport, director of CPRE Kent, said: "The water companies assure us that they will be able to meet this demand. Regional planners appear to share this confidence, claiming that with water-saving measures built into every house and new reservoirs we will have more than enough water to supply our region's needs in 20 years' time."

"But in CPRE Kent we do not share this optimism. House builders are making woefully poor progress in delivering new homes built with water efficiency in mind - even in the growth areas of Ashford and the Thames Gateway.

"And while new reservoirs - or expanding those that we already have - may help to meet the demand, we have struggled to keep our existing reservoirs full over the last two winters."