The Government is in the throes of reforming the way we manage and utilise - drinking water, wastewater and stormwater.
The legislation is called Three Waters and is being rolled out by Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta.
At the moment - these three waters are operated by Councils on behalf of their communities. But for decades many Councils have not been able to keep up with the infrastructure requirements and services delivery pressures – in some cases leading to public health outbreaks.
Minister Mahuta's plan is to create four publicly owned Water Service Entities which will be governed by the community and iwi.
Waikato Tainui Chairman Tukoroirangi Morgan has been appointed to one of the four water entities this week.
But the proposal is far from settled with Auckland's Ngāti Whātua Orakei’s Chairman Ngarimu Blair open to a new proposal being led by Mayor Wayne Brown and others.
Watch the debate with Tukoroirangi Morgan and Ngarimu Blair above.
