Dangerously low water levels for Gisborne are leaving residents with nothing to drink, after their wastewater treatment system failed.
"Stop all water usage right now" was the worrying message delivered to Gisborne residents on Friday when the only current operational water plant in the city went offline.
But the arrival of a Navy ship filled with supplies brought some hope for locals.
Broken, washed out and disjointed - that's the condition of the pipe Gisborne relies on for its main water supply.
"It's pretty much a coastal city - it's water water everywhere but not a drop to drink," said Tairawhiti Emergency Management Group Controller Ben Green.
On Friday a council team took the only option of a five-hour journey on foot to reach the pipeline and establish the scale of the damage for engineers.
"Had to go a bit old school and bush-bash for a bit of it, there's a fair few slips, the roads been taken out in a number of places, the roads gone in kilometres of places," said Gisborne District Council's director of community lifelines Dave Wilson.
And soon after, locals were reminded of just how dangerously low the water levels are.
Civil Defence issued an immediate 'stop usage' message around lunchtime, when the only operational water plant (a backup one) went down.
People in Gisborne are being urged to conserve water, because it's using about 4000 cubic metres more than its daily supply.
"We got our drums of water all filled up ready to go," said one resident.
Some residents even had buckets outside ready to use as toilets.
"We haven't been showering just to conserve water," said another Gisborne local.
But with the well-stocked Navy ship arriving in Gisborne, there's hope on the horizon.
The HMNZS Manawanui has plenty of food supplies as well as 20 containers of 1000 litres of water, ready to be distributed to those in need.
"We've got about two tonnes of food, frozen food and fresh food, and then lots of things in between, so we've got 40 portable toilets, a whole load of toilet rolls, clothes, sleeping bags, tents," said Captain of HMNZS Manawanui Commander Yvonne Gray.
They brought good news of Tokomaru Bay and Waipiro Bay doing well since being cut off from Gisborne by road due to broken bridges.
"What we didn't see was devastation, we're definitely seeing a lot of debris in the water. For Waipiro their boat ramp is inaccessible at the moment," Commander Gray said.
Manawanui also has desalination machinery on board with the capability of turning seawater to 13,000 litres of fresh water a day.
Unfortunately, it's just not enough.
"It's not enough for what we need at the moment," said Wilson.
But it's provided a visible reminder off Gisborne's harbour that help isn't far away.
