The often wet West Coast has upended the January weather records as the sunniest place in the country.
The 328 hours of sunshine here beat all the major cities and every smaller town with an official weather station.
Westport and Punakaiki were the first to be told to start conserving water, last week. Greymouth and surrounds followed this week.
Some places got a slight reprieve later this week, with rain or drizzle at the glaciers and Runanga.
But Greymouth has had just 62mm of rain since January 1, compared to the January average of 236mm. Hokitika has had 81mm (286mm normally) and Westport 48mm (181mm).
Rain is currently forecast for tomorrow — followed by another sunny week.
Grey District Council group manager operations Aaron Haymes said there appeared to be a major leak in the network that supplies Runanga.
That reduced the ability to get water where it was needed, regardless of how much water was pumped into the main
Lawns around Greymouth were already browning before restrictions came in yesterday.
John Phillips at the Greymouth Nursery said they had been doing lots of watering, until restrictions came in.
"It's quite stressful for us. We are trying to keep alive all these beautiful things for people to enhance their homes."
Staff would be tactical and water what was required.
Things like deciduous trees would be dropping leaves — a natural response to preserve themselves and save themselves.
Dennis Cadigan at Service Cartage in Hokitika is seeing increased demand for water as tanks run low, mostly around the rural Hokitika area.
Last summer had had more rain but, before that, the triple dip of dry La Nina summers were also busy.
Forecast rain has often not arrived, making the arrival of the water truck a welcome sight, he said.
Fox Glacier farmer and fire chief John Sullivan said they had a little drizzle last night, but by mid-morning it was burning off.
"It has been quite dry. I've only got a handful of stock now .. (but the) dairy farmers are pretty desperate for rain."
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris said its weather station at Hokitika Airport registered its fourth driest January. Westport had its third driest with only 48.2mm since the beginning of the year.
The last rain in Greymouth was 16.6mm on January 29. Westport had 2.2mm on February 1.
In an update on Wednesday, the Buller District Council said the Westport reservoir was at 87.5%, with a reduction rate of about one percentage point a day since the water conservation notice was issued.
Rain last week provided a slight increase in intake flow, but it remains lower than the town's demand for water.
The Punakaiki reservoir level was at 92%.
The Grey District Council is asking people in the greater Greymouth area and Blackball to conserve water. It asked people to minimise or limit lawn and garden watering to help manage demand.
Buller and Grey districts are under fire restrictions, with Westland likely to follow suit next week.
Sunshine hours were exceptionally high in western South Island regions, with Hokitika recording its sunniest January since 1912 (328 hours), while Greymouth also had a record-breaking month (302 hours).
Franz Josef had its second driest January since records began in 1926, with 80mm.
Mayor Tania Gibson said she was not surprised, as over the holidays "we were just basking".
However, Greymouth was ready for rain.
— Laura Mills and Meg Fulford
