People were asked to bring their own containers and they would be limited to four litres per person.
The council is also commandeering as much drinking water as it can from local supermarkets – it’s not possible to bring water in from further afield because all major routes into the West Coast are closed.
Gibson said some small reservoirs around the district were still working but thousands of households supplied by the main reservoir could run out tonight.
She said an expert engineer, who is not located on the coast, has been contacted and was trying to reset the electrical water treatment system remotely.
Grey Hospital has back-up water tanks and was coping at this stage, the mayor said.
But local schools have been warned they may not be able to open on Friday, depending on whether the fault’s been fixed.
The entire West Coast was without power for about four hours from about 8am on Thursday as heavy rain and gale-force winds battered the region.
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