Environmentalists have told an inquiry panel that Southern Water has not coped effectively with the current water shortage.

The comments by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) came as the water company appealed for permission to replenish its reserves by draining water from the River Medway in Kent.

Southern Water wants to divert 20 million litres of water from the River Medway in Kent into Bewl Water reservoir, which supplies much of Sussex.

With the reservoir standing two-thirds empty, water levels are the lowest since it was built in 1975.

Southern Water yesterday put its request for a special Drought Permit allowing extraction from the Medway before a Government inspector at the hearing.

The company claims it must take water from the Medway at Yalding to avoid further water shortages next summer.

But CPRE representatives told the inquiry that the water company could have avoided the need to take water from the Medway.

The CPRE said Southern Water needed a better "drought-management" strategy.

Graham Warren, chairman of the CPRE's Environment Committee, said: "The dire situation in which Southern Water finds itself might have been avoided had the company followed CPRE Kent's advice for preserving our scant resources."

He added that drawing so much water from the river would cause problems along the course of the Medway as it would drop below a minimum residual flow level set up to protect the habitat in drought.