Water companies are urging customers to conserve water after soaring temperatures led to supply problems in parts of Sussex.

Southern Water has ruled out a hosepipe ban but says customers have to be careful to make sure supplies remain constant.

It warned gardeners not to waste water by watering in the middle of the day.

A spokeswoman said: "There is no problem with the amount of water available, just getting it to customers at the required pressure at times of peak demand."

Demand has quadrupled in some parts of the county during the hot spell.

Customers in Horsham and Brighton have seen disruptions to supplies due to low pressure.

Among them is magazine publisher Gerry Woolf, who lives in Westmeston Avenue, Saltdean.

His home was without water from 6pm to 9.30pm on Monday and he has experienced pressure problems for several weeks.

He has cancelled his £500 a year direct debate to the water company in protest. He said: "I am fed up with this. Southern Water has a statutory obligation to provide water at the required rate.

"I have had their own water engineers here who confirmed that the pressure is not even a quarter of what it should be."

Homes in Horsham have had no water at all for hours at a time.

The amount being pumped from Itchingfield reservoir, near Horsham, is 133 litres every second during the day/early evening compared with 34 litres a second at the start of the day.

Jon Crooke, the company's distribution manager, said: "There is a limit to the amount of water which can be pumped through our mains at any one time.

"We urge people to use water wisely."