Some Charleston and rural Westport residents made their own arrangements for a water tanker from Nelson to top up tanks.
Yesterday, the Buller District Council issued a water conservation notice for Reefton due to falling reservoir levels, and today Greymouth followed suit.
The Grey District Council is asking people to conserve water at Greymouth, Cobden, Blaketown, Boddytown, Karoro, South Beach, Paroa, Kaiata, Dobson, Taylorville, Stillwater and Runanga.
It said the long, dry spell had resulted in a significant increase in water demand.
"As wet weather is forecast in the coming days we ask residents to minimise or limit any garden watering today."
Buller District Council acting chief executive Rachel Townrow said the Reefton reservoir was currently at 61%, but usually operated at 70 to 90%.
"It's not uncommon for Reefton to see restrictions during this time of year. The combination of dry weather and increased visitor numbers over the Christmas/New Year period increases the demand on Reefton's water supply. As a result reservoir levels currently aren't recovering to the levels we'd like," Ms Townrow said.
Tony White from Tasman Water Care Distribution brought a tanker down to Westport as a test case, delivering six loads.
The Buller District Council was closed, but with the help of someone from Westreef he was able to arrange to take water. When the council reopens, he intends setting up for more Buller deliveries, as the Granity Fire Brigade no longer carts water.
"Everyone was kind of desperate (for water)," Mr White said.
The Metservice said today the last rainfall in Greymouth was 8mm on December 19 but the last heavy fall, 40mm, was further back on December 11.
That means the town has gone 15 days without rain, when it is unusual to get more than 10 in a row.
Cobden chief fire officer Kirk Gillam asked people to avoid unnecessary outdoor fires.
He said it would take a lot of rain to change the dry conditions. A shower of rain caused gorse to release a wax, which actually made it more flammable.
Mr Gillam also asked anyone with a spare section to keep the grass down, to reduce the fire risk.
The Metservice has a heavy rain watch in place for the ranges south of Otira from 5am tomorrow to 5am on Friday.
