People washing their cars or turning on the sprinklers could face prosecution when hospeipe bans from three water companies hit Elmbridge from April 5.

Veolia Water Central, Thames Water, and Sutton and East Surrey Water were among seven firms in southern and eastern England to announce restrictions.

The decision followed Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman’s announcement that parts of south-east England were officially in drought.

With groundwater levels across parts of the Thames Water region close to the lowest levels ever recorded, many tributaries of the River Thames were running desperately low.

Martin Baggs, chief executive of Thames Water, which covers Molesey and Esher, said the company had been working hard to save itself water, by reducing leakages by a third since their peak in 2004.

Mr Baggs said: “The additional step, which we are not taking lightly, comes after two consecutive dry winters.

“We know these restrictions will be unpopular, but they will save a lot of water. A garden sprinkler uses as much water in an hour as a family of four uses in a day, and when water is in short supply the needs of families must come first.

“We want to encourage everyone to continue to voluntarily save as much of this precious resource as possible, so there is enough to go around all our customers, however long it stays dry.”

Under the terms of the Thames Water ban, customers can still water their gardens and clean their cars, provided they use either a watering can or a bucket.

There are exemptions for some commercial users, such as car washes and window cleaners, for the elderly and infirm, and for national and international sporting events.

Mr Baggs said if the dry weather continued he could not rule out the possibility of applying for a Drought Order from Defra, which would result in extended water use restrictions.

Rob Varley, operations director at the Met Office, said: “Even sustained rainfall over the next few months would have a limited impact. However, we are working with the water industry to make sure they have the best weather forecast information available to help them manage their resources.”

For Sutton and East Surrey Water, which provides water in Cobham , Oxshott and Stoke D’Abernon, the hosepipe ban only applied to domestic customers.

Veolia Water's hosepipe ban, which includes Walton and Weybridge areas, includes watering gardens, cleaning cars or private leisure boats and filling a domestic swimming pool.

Their customers will also be banned from drawing water for domestic recreational use such as filling fountains or cleaning patios.

Peter Thompson, director at Garson’s Farm in Esher, said it would affect them, but it was difficult to quantify because for the Pick Your Own side of operations, the farm had an extraction licence from the River Mole.

But with the key season for planting approaching, the hosepipe ban would have other knock-on effects, Mr Thompson said.

Mr Thompson said: “We are more concerned about customers for plants. If people can’1t water bedding plants, they won't want to buy them.

“But, on the other hand, water butts are selling well now, and the last time we had a hosepipe ban, people switched to buying Mediterranean-style plants.

“We just hope we don’t get a sudden deluge in the summer to drown out the strawberries.”