Wellington resident Pam Englert had to wait three months to get her hands on an emergency water tank.

Wellington City Council has admitted it needs to do a better job of making emergency water tanks available, with some residents waiting three months to get their hands on one.

Water tanks have been in high demand since the magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake, which rocked the capital on November 14 earthquake. Some 2672 tanks have been sold through the city council since then.

Tanks can be purchased direct from suppliers or hardware stores for about $150. But the region's councils sell them at a much cheaper price of $105 to make them more accessible.

SUPPLIED Wellington City Council only has one supplier of 200L emergency water tanks and one place in town you can get them.

But with only one distribution centre in Wellington - the Southern Landfill - and residents being unable to place orders or join a wait-list, many are missing out and have been left wondering when more tanks will become available.

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Under the current distribution system, residents have to call the council's service centre to enquire whether any tanks are available that day. If they are, they must get to the landfill as soon as possible before they sell out.

ROBERT KITCHIN/FAIRFAX NZ Emergency water tanks have become a hot item in Wellington.

That does not work so well for people like Tawa resident Pam Englert, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a motorised wheelchair to get around.

She tried to get a tank through the city council in December but was not quick enough.

"[They] didn't know when they'd have more ... call back in January, they said."

Malcolm Sparrow, the council's community resilience portfolio leader, agreed that for a lot of people, particularly in more "far-flung" suburbs, having to race to the landfill for a tank was not ideal.

He has taken to ordering and delivering emergency water tanks himself, which he did for Englert on Waitangi Day.

Sparrow said he had been inundated with requests from residents unable to acquire a tank, and believed each Wellington council ward needed its own distribution point.

Other residents have told Stuff they have been trying since the November earthquake to acquire a water tank from the council without any luck.

The Tank Guy provides 100 tanks to the landfill each week. Spokesman Gary King said the company could meet Wellington's week-to-week demand, but distribution was the problem.

Wellington Region Emergency Management Office regional manager Bruce Pepperell was aware of some difficulty with distributing water tanks.

The program to offer them at a discounted price had been a victim of its own success, making them more accessible, although "not so accessible in Wellington city as perhaps some of the other councils"..

"It is a shame if people aren't able to get them," he said. But the wait time reinforced the need for people to prepare themselves before an emergency and not after the fact.

Wellington could be cut off from the water network for up to three months in the wake of a major earthquake struck.

The council will trial a sale of tanks through schools in the eastern suburbs next month, and if successful it may be rolled out across the city. They may also be distributed through community centres in future.