The manager of a leading water supply company has described the recent shortage as the worst he?s ever seen after further reports emerged yesterday of residents? tanks running dry.

Island Water Company manager George Pitcher told the company currently has a waiting list that will take three weeks to fulfil, while anybody other than their regular customers is being turned away.

?Things are really limited here at the moment,? he said.

?We produce our own water here but there is a limit to how much we can produce each day. And we certainly cannot produce enough to meet demand. So we?re putting out what we can and trying to deal with the backlog.?

Other water companies contacted yesterday were singing a similar tune ? with some of the smaller firms confirming that they have had to shut down until more water becomes available from Government wells.

?I?ve never seen anything like this before,? said one water trucker who did not wish to be identified.

?Our access to the Government wells is restricted at the moment and we can only draw enough water for a very limited number of customers. Our phones have been ringing off the hook with enquiries from the public ? but we have had to tell them there is nothing we can do. I?m praying for some rain to come soon. I?m running out of water at my house as well and we?ve had to be really careful with our usage.?

There were also reports yesterday that the Quickie Lickie Laundromat at Shelly Bay Plaza has been forced to close ? although this could not be confirmed by Press time.

Meanwhile, St. David?s resident Vanessa Seymour told yesterday that she has contacted every single water supply company for help ? only to be rebuffed.

?They all have enormous waiting lists while I?ve been told by some that they are not prepared to come to St. David?s,? she said.

?I?m going to have to buy a whole lot of bottled water and I?m probably going to have to join a gym so I can work out and have a bath afterwards. But things are just terrible at the moment.?

Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent last Friday urged residents to make every effort to conserve the water in their tanks while revealing the Ministry is ?actively pursuing? the potential purchase of a privately-owned catchment area with storage facilities.

However, a desalinisation plant is at least two years from becoming a reality, he added.

?What we really need now is a good, hard rain,? he said.

However, the Government came under fire in the House of Assembly last Friday, with Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons questioning why no definitive plans had been put in place to deal with a drought such as this.

Mr. DeVent?s good, hard rain does not look to be on its way, with James Morrison from the Bermuda Weather Service revealing last night that only sporadic showers are forecast over the next few days and weeks.

None of their long-term computer forecast models were predicting an extended downpour, he said.