Senior water scientist Joseph Thomas said it had not been this bad since 2001; a view echoed by dairy farmer Wayne Langford, who has been farming in Golden Bay for 19 years.
"So there was a big drought in 2001 – that was the last big dry we had, and the farmers I’m talking to are certainly saying it’s really starting to get worse than that."
Photo: Supplied / Tasman District Council Mr Raine said that meant only crops with a root system longer than that were able to get water from the ground.
Some of the ground water in coastal areas was under threat from salt water getting into the aquifers, with the current king tides.
Dennis Bush-King said if it did not work, then water restrictions tougher than the 65 percent cut already in place for some, were on the way.
Mr Raine said it was already beginning to bite.
He said as the water cuts worsened, they needed to consider which crops to save.
The dry weather is not restricted to Tasman – it was starting to cause pain across the top of the South Island.
The Nelson City Council, which has imposed Stage Two water restrictions, leading to a ban on the use of garden sprinklers, aimed to increase its supply of water to Tasman from 800 to 2000 cubic metres of water a day.
*The Civil Defence State of Emergency has been extended by a week in the Tasman region, due to the wildfires which began two weeks ago.