Supply to the town was cut when a pipe supplying the town from tanks situated above its historic cemetery failed about 10am and the system had to be shut down, Queenstown Lakes District Council communications manager Meaghan Miller said.
The supply failure affected the whole town, but QLDC horticultural staff were sent door-knocking to notify businesses in the town centre and two emergency water tankers were deployed, Ms Miller explained. Several businesses in the town were affected with the New Orleans Hotel in the main street bringing in its own water tanker.
Hotel manger Carrie Edgerton said she arrived at work for her late-morning shift to find no water coming out of the taps, so called in the company tanker which the hotel was still using by late afternoon.
Outside the hotel a sign said, "Yes, we do have water. We have our own water truck!"
However, others were not so fortunate.
Staff at Cafe Mondo said while they had water all day, the adjacent Arrowtown Hair company had to send customers home.
The Tap bar had water all day, but barman Ian Baker said he was inundated by tourists wanting to use toilets after the council locked the nearby public facilities.
Ms Miller said the main failed after subsidence gave way further and caused the break. Another main supply at the northern end of Arrowtown was used to restore water at 3pm.
"Everybody has water back on, although some may have low pressure," she said.
While there was some damage to a retaining wall associated with the water tank access, there was no damage to the historic cemetery, Ms Miller said.
