Families have been calling trucking companies in tears, desperate to get water for their homes amid the current shortage.

But truckers have had to turn dozens of customers away — with some people in the East End going as long as four to five days without water.

Many of the government-run water facilities have cut their opening hours and are only allowing companies to get water one truck at a time. One driver, who asked to not to be named, said that while the Port Royal facility was supposed to be opened from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the water was being emptied by noon.

At the Prospect Reservoirs drivers have been told the plant is not making enough water.

"Right now at present we have all the truckers up at Prospect, one truck filling up at a time. It takes an hour and a half to get a truck load of water," the driver said. Yesterday, the Ministry of Works and Engineering released a statement encouraging the public to conserve as much water as possible.

And told people to check their tank levels regularly before they become dry, which should ease the strain on water companies.

A Government spokesperson said: "As noted by the Bermuda Weather Service, the current amount of rainfall in Bermuda is well below normal. The amount of rainfall to date has been recorded at 17.49 inches, whereas the normal is 25.41 inches.

"This decrease in the amount of rainfall has caused a high demand for water across the Island and, with it, restricted hours at the Government water trucker outlets.

"The restricted hours have been implemented to allow consistent daily access for water truckers while ensuring that customers like the King Edward Memorial VII Hospital, Cedar Park and Marie Victoria Estates, all of which are solely reliant on the piped water supply."

According to Darren DeSilva, from Water Now Trucking, the problem is reaching the point of crisis. Mr. DeSilva has had to stop taking on new jobs and said he has dozens of loads to try and deliver this weekend.

"Basically the situation is there are people in the east-end and west-end and even the central parishes that have been without water. That is restaurants, guest houses, everything."

Mostly he says he has been concerned about the families in need. He got a call from a mother home alone with her children, but was unable to get them water after outlets had run dry that day. Another lady called him saying she had a rash that was bleeding because she was unable to clean it properly. He managed to get her some emergency water, but like other truckers on the Island Mr. DeSilva is severely limited in what he can do.

Another truck driver told The Royal Gazette: "Right now I have over 70 loads to do by this weekend. I do not know how I am doing it. We are facing a crisis. We have so many people in St. George's, St. David's, you have people out of water over there for four or five days. We cannot get water and people cannot live without water."

Raphael Simons, from Triton Water Service, said truck drivers are becoming increasingly frustrated. They are waiting all day lined up rather than using the available water and going home for the day. He said some of his company's drivers are having to wait 110 minutes to get one load of water.

And while some of his regular customers have been out of water for days, he has had to turn many new customers away.

"The poor people in St. David's and Somerset are suffering the most. They are the furthest out," he said.

"I had one lady call me from Spanish Point yesterday saying she has apartments that have a whole lot of expat company workers in it. So she is fearful that they could possible move out. We have restaurants call me that have had to conserve (water), but how can a restaurant conserve?"

For more information on the water conservation visit www.water.gov.bm.