People in the Far North are being urged to think before they flush their toilets or pour water down the drains.
Around 32,000 people were without power on Thursday after insulators in Kaikohe were shot down in the early hours of the morning.
Far North District Council spokesperson Richard Edmondson says because power was out for more than 12 hours, sewage facilities will take a while to get back to normal.
"We would like people to be just a bit more thoughtful than they would normally be. Obviously we don't want people to do anything that might compromise their health or sanitation. It's just about using common sense."
Mr Edmondson says extra care needs to be taken until at least the weekend.
"Power's back on, we've got the plants operational again. But we'd like people just to be careful about using water and flushing toilets."
Far North businesses will be doing their best to get back on their feet. Mr Edmondson says local businesses took a hard hit.
"A lot of businesses basically had to close down. That's basically a whole day of loss of earnings."
Police are investigating the cause of the power outages.
Newshub.
