Dividing the waters

Water isn’t just vital to life — it is also vital to the survival of many businesses. One problem for the Government is that in many areas water is already over-allocated and there is no mechanism — pricing or otherwise — to allow for trading or to push water into the most productive use. Aggravating the situation is a promise to give underused Ma¯ ori land more access to water. This has obvious potential to cause problems, especially as many farmers and others with current water rights believe these are in perpetuity. They believe that because without water, their businesses are worth much less. Now ministers have asked a group of officials to build up a case to convince people that water rights are not forever, and they can be amended, cut and even lost. No matter how clever their logic or well-crafted the language, this is not going to go down well. Especially when NZ First MPs work out what it means.