On Friday, December 17, flows into Tallowa Dam were at 0 megalitres from Fossickers Flat in the Shoalhaven River and were at 0.34 M/L at Hampden Bridge in the Kangaroo River.

To put the low flows into perspective, the trigger to stop pumping water from the Shoalhaven River is when flows are at 90 M/L a day, currently flows are less than 1 M/L.

"The flows into Tallowa dam are the lowest that I've seen in my 23 years in Council," Mr Horner said.

"I've spoken to staff who have been here longer than I have and they certainly haven't seen these levels."

Shoalhaven's usage currently is 45-50M/L per day and we're currently coming into the peak usage period where it will increase.

"On a per household basis Shoalhaven is one of the lowest water users in the state."

Shoalhaven went into Level 1 water restrictions on December 2 and Mr Horner said it's expected the restriction would reduce water use by 10 to 15 per cent or around 5 M/L a day.

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Despite the severity of the drought, Mr Horner said the Shoalhaven is in a fortunate position because of the size of Tallowa dam.

"With Tallowa dam being drawn down three meters, it still leaves the Shoalhaven with the equivalent of four years supply."

"That's without rain, so we have a very very robust water supply system."

Between October and November, there have been 33 millimetres of rain, the long term average for the same period is 140mm.

"It is very much below the average rainfall that we expect to receive at this time of the year."

"It's just been a dry year, we desperately need rain."