Anyone flouting drought orders can face a fine of up to £5,000 in magistrates' courts or an unlimited fine in the Crown Court. Seven water companies, all in the South East where shortages are most acute, already have hosepipe bans. An eighth, Essex and Suffolk, was told to impose one by the end of the month.

The drought order ban applies to filling swimming and paddling pools and watering all public parks and spaces, golf courses, cricket pitches and other sports grounds.

Householders may continue for now to use a watering can on their gardens but this will be reviewed if the drought con- tinues and water is not saved.

Rainfall across Britain has been below average for the past six months while London and much of southern England have experienced the driest 18 months in the past 74 years.

Reservoirs are mostly full after recent rainfall but groundwater stocks, which form the bulk of household supplies, are even lower in some parts of the South East than they were before the 1976 drought.

The first drought order banning non-essential use of water was authorised by the Government yesterday for the 270,000 homes and businesses served by the Sutton and East Surrey water company, which supplies about 650,000 people. The order takes effect on May 27, just in time for the Bank Holiday weekend.

The Horticultural Trades Association released figures last night suggesting that the water restrictions would cost the industry £300 million this year. The statistics were based on a reduction in summer bedding plant sales from £400 million to £320 million, a £20 million drop in other plant sales from £200 million to £180 million and a general cutback in spending at garden centres from £2 billion to £1.8 billion.

A spokeswoman said that the association had appealed to ministers because water curbs would cause "extreme hardship to garden centres and growers", especially after two difficult years of trading.

Ian Pearson, the Environment Minister, ordered the water company to impose curbs sensitively and to minimise the threat to any business. Car washing with a bucket and cloth and any other method that is not linked to mains supply continues to be allowed. The exteriors of buses, trains, aircraft and boats may also be cleaned in the same ways.

Commercial car wash firms that recycle water and save 23 litres per vehicle cleaned can apply for an exemption.

Window cleaners have also been given a special exemption provided that they use buckets or a system not attached to the mains supply.

The cleaning of the outsides of offices, factories and public buildings may also continue though this will also be banned if the drought persists.

Similar emergency controls are also expected soon for a million customers of Southern Water and 240,000 customers in Mid-Kent. A spokesman for the Sutton and East Surrey company said that it was doing everything possible to find extra supplies for golf clubs and other sports grounds. One option is to clean up some contaminated water going into the River Eden.

A Thames Water spokesman said that it was urgently assessing the need for emergency conservation measures.

At 8:00 am (2400 GMT) Wednesday, the storm was located 440 kilometers (273 miles) south of the Guangdong city of Shanwei.

Moving northeastward at 20 to 23 kilometers per hour and packing winds of 162 kph near its center, the eye is expected to pass just east of Hong Kong Wednesday before slamming into Guangdong, local observatories said.

The Guangzhou Meteorological Station forecast the typhoon may land in coastal regions between Shenzhen and Raoping counties Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, according to the China Daily newspaper.

However, it may veer east toward eastern China's Fujian province and the Taiwan Strait instead, state media quoted Huang Zhong, chief weatherman with the Guangzhou station, as saying.

Shantou city in the east of Guangdong could be hardest hit, the China Daily quoted Wang Yongxin, chief forecaster of the province's Marine Observatory, as saying.

In Guangdong's Shenzhen city, local authorities issued landslide warnings at some high-risk places and were ready to evacuate people if necessary, the China Daily said.

Advertisement billboards were either reinforced or removed. The city government has advised people to stay at home, close windows and move flowerpots from balconies.

Nearby Fujian and Hainan provinces were also braced for damage with Hainan ordering a halt to sea and rail transport across the Qiongzhou Strait between the island and Guangdong.

In Hong Kong several trees were felled by high winds.

Winds as high as 74 kph were recorded and there was concern about flooding in low-lying areas, the observatory said. Classes at kindergartens and some other schools were also called off.

Hong Kong authorities warned residents to protect their windows and doors, and advised builders to secure all scaffolding. It also advised fishing vessels to seek shelter immediately.

A man surfing at a Hong Kong beach Wednesday morning was almost swept away by a 20-foot wave there but managed to hang on to the cliff and was rescued later, a witness said.

Hong Kong and Guangdong regularly suffer torrential rain and flooding from typhoons that normally occur between May and November.

The Rwenzori Mountains--also known as the Mountains of the Moon--straddle the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Uganda. They are home to one of four remaining tropical ice fields outside of the Andes and are renowned for their spectacular and rare flora and fauna.

The mountains' legendary status was set during the second century, when the Greek geographer Ptolemy made a seemingly preposterous but ultimately accurate statement about snow-capped mountains at the equator in Africa: "The Mountains of the Moon whose snows feed the lakes, sources of the Nile."

The glaciers were first surveyed a century ago when glacial cover over the entire range was estimated to be 6.5 square kilometers [2.5 square miles].

Recent field surveys and satellite mapping of glaciers conducted by researchers from University College London, Uganda's Makerere University, and the Ugandan Water Resources Management Department show that some glaciers are receding tens of metres [yards] each year and that the area covered by glaciers halved between 1987 and 2003.

With less than one square kilometer [half a square mile] of glacier ice remaining, the researchers expect these glaciers to disappear within the next 20 years.

Richard Taylor of the University College London Department of Geography, who led the study, says: "Recession of these tropical glaciers sends an unambiguous message of a changing climate in this region of the tropics.

"Considerable scientific debate exists, however, as to whether changes in temperature or precipitation are responsible for the shrinking of glaciers in the East African Highlands that also include Kilimanjaro [in Tanzania] and Mount Kenya."

Taylor and his colleagues found that in the Rwenzori Mountains since the 1960s, there are clear trends toward increased air temperature without significant changes in precipitation.

A key focus of the research is the impact of climate change on water resources in Africa. Glacial recession in Rwenzori Mountains is not expected to affect alpine river flow, the scientists say, due to the small size of the remaining glaciers.

It remains unclear, however, how the projected loss of the glaciers will affect tourism and local traditional belief systems that are based upon the snow and ice, known locally as "Nzururu."

"Considering the continent's negligible contribution to global greenhouse-gas emissions, it is a terrible irony that Africa, according to current predictions, will be most affected by climate change," added Taylor.

"Furthermore, the rise in air temperature is consistent with other regional studies that show how dramatic increases in malaria in the East African Highlands may arise, in part, from warmer temperatures, as mosquitoes are able to colonize previously inhospitable highland areas."

If granted, the emergency powers would halt car washes, ban the watering of public parks and the filling of private swimming pools and threaten the survival of thousands of small businesses such as window cleaners and gardeners.

Following two successive dry winters, the Environment Agency has warned the drought is spreading, with eastern England and the south Midlands judged to be vulnerable in the event of a hot, dry summer. Reservoir levels in Wales and the South-west could drop sharply this summer.

Department for Environment officials have admitted they do not know how many reservoirs have closed in the past 15 years.

MPs said the failure of the department to answer the question indicated they had not been taking water shortages seriously in spite of the rising demands for housing in the South-east.

On Monday this week, ministers granted Sutton and East Surrey Water the first drought order for more than a decade, a dramatic escalation of the hosepipe bans already in force across the South-east. With the Environment Agency warning that having standpipes in streets in the parched South is a "real risk", the Mayor of London yesterday urged people to rethink the way in which they use water. Ken Livingstone said it was inevitable that homes would have to be fitted with water meters.

The Consumer Council for Water, a watchdog, backed the introduction of compulsory metering in the worst-affected areas of the South-east, but a spokesman said the water industry had to improve its performance on leaks to ensure supplies reached customers. According to the latest figures from Ofwat, for 2004-05, the 23 water companies in England and Wales lost between eight million and 915 million litres a day. Two companies, Thames Water and United Utilities - which together cover 11 million people in London, Manchester and Liverpool - failed to hit Ofwat's targets for the number of leaks that can be economically repaired. Thames Water - which loses one-third of its water between the reservoir and the home - has missed its target for five successive years.

Andrew Marsh, of the Consumer Council for Water, said: "We have all got to do our bit but the companies ... have to do theirs as well. The companies - and Thames Water in particular - need to sharpen up their act if we are going to save water resources."

Alan Bradley, a cabinet member at Westminster Council, complained: "It is a bit galling to have hosepipe bans and standpipes when Thames Water are losing that amount ... through leakages. They have been set a target by Ofwat to reduce the amount they lose and they consistently fail to meet those targets."

The Federation of Small Businesses demanded the industry fix the problem. Thames Water defended its leakage record, saying it was hampered by the age of pipes, the region's clay soil and heavy traffic. This week its parent company, RWE, said operating profit rose 17 per cent in the first quarter - a rise likely to irritate consumers and business people hurt by the drought.

Pressure on the industry is expected to increase further as water companies and ministers are accused of failing to heed calls to improve supplies when climate change threatens to bring more drought.

Plans for a national water pipe supplying water from the North to the dry South are still on the drawing board more than 20 years after being suggested.

The Met Office warned there could be heavy rain in the West and South over the next three days, but said it would take a prolonged period of very wet weather to replenish stocks.

Running out

* One-third of the water in homes goes on flushing the lavatory - each flush uses about 10 litres (18 pints)

* The average bath uses 80 litres; a shower about 35 litres

* Garden sprinklers use up to 1,000 litres an hour

* The water industry loses 800 million gallons a day in leaks, enough to meet the needs of 24 million people a day

* The worst offender is Thames Water, which loses 200 million gallons daily

* Groundwater, used for 70 per cent of supplies in the South- east, is at record lows

* Standpipes were last used in Britain in 1976

* 2005 was the driest year since 1973