Summarised by Centrist

Last year, in a deal not disclosed to the public, Watercare, Auckland’s water services provider, signed an “agreement relating to relationship matters” with Waikato-Tainui’s main council, Te Whakakitenga o Waikato Inc. 

This deal means Watercare will pay $1m every year for 20 years. The money is reportedly meant to support research and environmental projects related to water in the lower Waikato River area, which belongs to Waikato-Tainui. Sam Warren of the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance calls it ‘murky at best.’ 

This follows a 2022 deal allowing Watercare to extract up to 150m litres of water per day from the river, already tied to environmental payments.

Notably, Watercare’s additional $20m in payments is separate from the $2m per year it already contributes to the Waikato River Clean-Up Trust that is co-governed between iwi and the Crown. 

Warren remarks that ratepayers were deliberately left out of the loop regarding this arrangement. “Ratepayers deserve transparency… when the cost-to-benefit for such a transaction remains murky at best,” he said. 

Watercare says that it aims to reduce Auckland’s reliance on the Waikato River and increase involvement of Māori-owned businesses in infrastructure projects. 

Auckland has been offering big payments to iwi to help care for the river even though the government considers free-flowing freshwater a public good. 

Read more over at NZ Herald (paywalled)