WATER companies should merge to counter the biggest threat to Kent and Medway’s growth agenda.

That was the stark message from Jim Brathwaite, chairman of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), at a time of hosepipe bans, compulsory metering and cancelled floral displays.

Although officials play down the consequences of water shortages for growth in the Kent Thames Gateway and Ashford, they admit they are worried.

There will be an extra 128,000 homes and 230,000 jobs in the Thames Gateway by 2016. Without adequate water resources, such ambitious growth plans may have to be trimmed.

Speaking at the MIPIM commercial property and development expo in Cannes, where water shortage emerged as a key issue, Mr Brathwaite said: "We’re pretty worried about it."

One solution was better management, stricter conservation, more water-efficient homes and less leakage. Another was merger.

He said: "There are too many water companies in the South East. We’ve got to do something about amalgamating these companies."

He would be urging the water regulator Ofwat to look at the issue, as well as the need to move water from areas of plenty to areas of shortage.

He also wanted to see reservoir projects such as Broad Oak, near Canterbury, brought forward.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, who has rejected plans for a de-salination plant, urged people to change their toilet habits.

"Look, you don’t neet to flush the loo when you pee," he told more than 100 business leaders from Kent, Medway and the Greater South East.

"It’s a mild nitrogen solution, not a heavy cauldron of disease. A third of all the water we use we flush down the loo. I’ve been doing it [not flushing] for 18 months and we’re not a centre of flies and squalor."

Mr Brathwaite offered this advice: "If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down."

Meanwhile, a major water conference is to be hosted in Kent this summer.

Cllr Graham Gibbens, Kent County Council’s Cabinet member for regeneration – Kent’s "Water Tsar" – said: "We are very concerned about the water issues across Kent.

"We are setting up a conference in the summer to highlight the water crisis across the county and hopefully put pressure on the water companies."