• Mopping up continues with 50 roads closed
However, they appear to be coping so far, with very little demand for drinking water from two tankers the Waitaki District Council has stationed near the shut-down schemes.
At the peak of flooding, the Waitaki District Council switched off nine schemes to stop discoloured and contaminated water being pumped into the systems.
It was also to prevent damage to pumps from silt and stones.
Yesterday, three schemes - Awamoko (Waitaki Valley), Herbert-Waianakarua and Lower Waitaki - were still switched off.
People on those schemes were being asked to conserve water, but the council on Friday night put the two 17,000-litre tankers, supplied by NZ Dairies Ltd at Studholme, with fresh drinking water at the Herbert Garage and Papakaio Hall to provide water for any consumers who ran out.
Civil Defence recovery manager Dougall McIntyre yesterday said there had been only two inquiries from consumers about where to get water.
The tankers had not yet needed to be refilled.
He was not aware of any consumers who had run out of water, but the tankers would remain until all schemes were operating again.
Consumers on all schemes were still being asked to conserve water, even on those schemes switched back on, because it might take days to restore full supplies.
Herbert residents spoken to by the Otago Daily Times yesterday were aware of only three people getting water from the tanker at the town's garage.
Most people were coping with the water supply shut-down.
Civil Defence was yesterday praised by the Waitaki District Council for its handling of the flooding crisis.
The council unanimously passed a special motion expressing its "appreciation and thanks" to Civil Defence volunteers and council staff in Oamaru and Palmerston for their "sterling efforts" over the past week as the community experienced "one of the heaviest and [most] prolonged rain events" in the area's recent history.
The praise was echoed by some residents at the public forum before yesterday's council meeting.
However, Oamaru resident Louisa Burrell asked the council to make road closure information more widely available, especially for those who did not have computers.
The council updated information about roads closed or reopened on its website, but Mrs Burrell said some people did not have access if they did not own or use a computer.
She suggested a phone number people could dial to get road information.
