Felix Walton, reporter

Some residents in Dargaville are still without water and others are being asked to use as little as possible.

The Kaipara District Council repaired multiple line breaks on Friday, which had drained the town's reservoirs to critical levels.

But on Saturday morning the council said the line into the water treatment plant was still full of air, preventing crews from safely refilling the lines.

"The team are working to bleed it out so that water can flow smoothly and we can start treating water again," the council said in a post on its Facebook page.

"The line is around 40km long and it must be done slowly to avoid pressure blowouts and damage so this is going to take some time."

Meanwhile, the council asked residents to keep conserving water and reassured them the remaining water was safe to drink.

"We know a few people are experiencing the water coming through the tap being a bit cloudy or murky," it said.

"We are replenishing the reservoir from registered water suppliers and the movement in the tanks is stirring up the water."

Some residents told RNZ their water had been cut off and the local supermarket was running out of bottled water.

Dargaville resident Crysta Erickson said people were buying as much bottled water as they could get their hands on.

"At the moment they're just all buying up the stock that they do have on the shelves," she said. "Pretty much all the bulk packages have gone and it's now just the single bottles which are a lot more expensive, and the flavoured water as well are pretty much all that's left."

She said the situation was incredibly frustrating.

"They've also just increased our rates and everything, so we're paying extra for basic services that are essential [and] we're not getting them. And we went 12 hours without any communication from the council, it wasn't until this morning when people started posting on Facebook that they decided to update us."

"We're sorry this has happened," the council said in its post. "We have crews working nonstop and doing everything they can to get this sorted."

This story was originally published by RNZ