The army is also helping bring in bottled water
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The army is to help distribute water across Gloucestershire following complaints that bowsers were not being topped up fast enough.
Some 350,000 people could be without mains water for two weeks after a water treatment plant was deluged by the swollen River Severn.
There are up to 900 bowsers across the county, with the army also shipping in bottled water to distribution points.
A Severn Trent Water spokeswoman said the company was addressing the problem.
"The army is giving us assistance and with their logistical experience and military operation, we should hopefully see an improvement," she said.
"They are emptying faster than we can fill them."
Police said some people had been maliciously emptying bowsers, while others had been selling bowser water.
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We've got jobs and we can't spend all day looking for water
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One woman managed to fill just a quarter of a four litre bottle on Thursday and said she would have to spend most of the day coming back and forth hoping the bowser near her home had been refilled.
"I came down here five times yesterday and there was nothing. We can't put up with much more of this," she said.
"We've got jobs and we can't spend all day looking for water."
On the Coney Hill estate, residents complained that bowsers had not been filled since Monday and claimed some units had been vandalised as soon as they were replenished.
Tony Wray, managing director of Severn Trent Water, said delays were down to the logistical difficulties in getting to the bowers.
Chief Constable Tim Brain praised community spirit, but said there had been some incidences of disorder and people acting selfishly.
"I regret to say that there have been a very small number of confirmed crimes. Where criminal activity takes place the constabulary will treat those as normal crimes, arrest the offenders and prosecute them," he said.
"We are working hard to get more bowsers and fill them. This is an enormous logistical operation.
"We will strive with everything that we have to get confirmed deliveries of water across the county."
Some residents have complained about a lack of water
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Large underground tanks at the flooded Mythe Water Treatment Centre have been pumped out and engineers are assessing the damage caused to the station.
But it has been estimated that it could be up to two weeks before the centre is fully operational.
Mr Wray added: "We're making good headway in pumping the site out; in getting to our equipment, drying it out and repairing it.
"If we continue to go at the rate that we're operating, we hope to test on the site the basic recommissioning that we need to do this weekend."
Gloucestershire County Council has bought 500 portable toilets and 900 potties for use by elderly and vulnerable people, particularly those in care homes.
More than five million litres of bottled water were delivered and distributed at 21 centres across the county on Wednesday.
Road clean-up
The army said there will be no shortage of bottled water.
The county council has retained supplying bottled water to the vulnerable, including the elderly.
"We want everyone to act as eyes and ears to establish any elderly or disabled people who might need help," the chief executive said.
The clean-up of the county's roads has also begun, he added.
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