Households have been told to ration their water use as the South East of England is experiencing drier conditions than several major international cities.
Tim Mcmahon, the managing director of Southern Water, has claimed that the region is drier than "Sydney, Dallas, Marrakesh and Istanbul".
The water company says it is being forced to ask customers to reduce their usage.
Mcmahon warned that if customers don't use less water, it could lead to future bill increases.
The water company says it is being forced to ask customers to reduce their usage
PA
Southern Water indicated that significant investment is needed to improve infrastructure as the majority of its current water sources will need to change in the coming decades.
"We need to reduce customers' usage. Otherwise we will have to put other investments in place, which will not be good for our customers and might not be the best thing for the environment," Mcmahon told the BBC.
He explained that the company's hands were being forced by the region's dry conditions and dense population.
"If you look at the south-east of England, it's drier than Sydney, Istanbul, Dallas, Marrakesh," he said.
Southern Water said the money from price hikes is needed to improve infrastructure.
"We can't keep extracting from our current sources," Mcmahon added.
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"Sixty per cent of them will be different in 20 years' time. That's where the investment is going."
According to the Met Office, the driest parts of south east England receive about 20 inches of rain annually.
This is significantly less than Sydney, which gets over 48 inches of rainfall per year.
Istanbul receives just under 24 inches annually, while Dallas, Texas gets nearly 35 inches of rain each year.
Marrakech, however, is considerably drier than the South East, with only 9 inches of annual rainfall.
The Met Office data confirms Mcmahon's claims about the South East's relatively dry conditions compared to Sydney, Istanbul and Dallas.
Only Marrakech experiences less rainfall than south-east England among the cities mentioned.
The main shopping street, Castle Street, in Dover, Kent
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Southern Water is taking action to address these challenges with new infrastructure projects.
The company is partnering with Portsmouth Water to build the Havant Thicket reservoir in Hampshire.
This will be the UK's first new reservoir in 30 years.
Southern Water said it would store 8.7 billion litres of water and provide up to 111 million litres daily during drought conditions.
Mcmahon also revealed plans to source water from further afield.
"If you're in Hampshire, water will be coming from Oxfordshire from the new reservoir we're building with Thames Water, pumped all the way down to Hampshire."
The potential reservoir near Abingdon in Oxfordshire has proved controversial, with thousands opposing the proposal.
