River handover leaves users in dark

The Government's proposal to hand the Waikato River back to the Tainui people has been pushed through without consulting the river's major users.

Iwi are set to be granted at least a co-management role of the river, but many groups who rely on it for commercial reasons appear not to have been spoken to about the proposal.

Watercare Services, which supplies Auckland's drinking water from the Waikato, and Genesis Energy, which runs the Huntly power station, confirmed yesterday they had not been told about the plans.

"We hadn't heard anything until this morning. There's been no discussion whatsoever between Watercare, Tainui and the Government on any changes," said Watercare spokesperson Owen Cook. He said Watercare would likely contact Tainui to discuss the matter soon.