Melbourne’s warm, dry autumn could see the city’s dam levels could sink below 60 percent for the first time since 2011, prompting calls to bring back shower buckets for garden watering.

Today storage levels dipped to 60.2 percent of capacity, and with no significant rain on the immediate horizon, they’re expected to keep dropping.

Speaking to 9NEWS at Sugarloaf Reservoir, Water Minister Lisa Neville said she was keeping a close eye on the situation.

Lisa Neville told 9NEWS she is keeping a "close eye" on the dam situation. (9NEWS) (9news)

“We have had this and last year well below the 30 year averages in terms of both rainfall and inflow into our storage system,” she said.

“Without desalination we would actually be at 56.9 percent, so we’d be hitting the 50s (percent) which would be really concerning”.

Authorities are hoping to avoid the need for water restrictions, but Colin Neathercoat from Melbourne Water encouraged Melburnians to find ways of reducing their daily usage.

“We’re up around 161 litres per person, and our target is 155 (litres)… that six litre difference is around two thirds of a bucket of water a day”, he said.

“Not watering gardens except for early in the morning, perhaps capturing a bucket of water when you’re heating up the shower in the morning and putting that on the garden”.

There are fresh calls for shower buckets to be brought back for garden watering. (9NEWS) (9news)

Authorities are hoping to avoid the need for water restrictions. (9NEWS) (9news)

“And if we can save that extra six litres of water, two thirds of a bucket, that would translate over a year into a 10 gigalitres boost into our storages, or 0.6 percent”.

Similar tactics were employed to help reduce consumption during the millennium drought, which lasted from 1996 to 2010.

The dry conditions haven’t been confined to Melbourne.

The Bureau of Meterology's rainfall outlook for May. (BoM) (Bureau of Meteorology)

Senior Climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology Blair Trewin said rainfall had been below average almost everywhere in Victoria.

“It’s looking on track to be one of the five driest February to April periods on record for Victoria,” he said.

“Some parts of the state have been more than 80 percent below average over that period”.

Buninyong berry farmer Ernie Neale said the dry conditions had resulted in his second lowest yield ever, and left his plants stressed heading into winter.

Colin Neathercoat from Melbourne Water encouraged Melburnians to find ways of reducing their daily usage. (9NEWS) (9news)

“The plants are scavenging nutrition from the leaves before they drop them,” he said.

“If we had one or two months just to bring us back to average… we need rain”

The bureau said the outlook for above average rainfall over the next three months is 50/50.