Housing Minister Nick Smith is considering how to enable private companies to take on the development of infrastructure.

COMMENT: Creating a market for water use rights would be good for the environment and the economy.

Water rescues were up 14 per cent this year, compared to 2015, Surf Life Saving New Zealand says.

In a country where it is perfectly safe to drink water from a tap, it is incredible that anybody can make money by selling water in bottles.

If Ashburton Council doesn't halt sale of land with aquifer, residents will take ECan to the High Court for a judicial review.

COMMENT: Why should commercial bottlers of water privately profit from this scarce public resource without paying?

COMMENT: If international consumers are prepared to pay for bottled water rather than a product such as milk, beer or juice, we should seize the chance.

Aucklanders will be paying more for their water from July, equating on average to an extra $21 per household each year.

COMMENT: It is ludicrous to suggest that, when Maori sold land, they imagined that they retained an ownership interest in the water which flowed over it.

Massive housing growth in northwest Auckland is coming with an $800 million bill for new and improved water services.

COMMENT: Across New Zealand, people from many different backgrounds have a deep and passionate connection with their waterways.

COMMENT: An embarrassing moment yesterday afternoon. I was confronted by Pak'nSave store security, who asked me to open my enormous rucksack.

COMMENT: The most recent issue to get the "more to Kiwi than iwi" treatment - from a disaffected group of extreme, right-wing, former politicians - is water rights.

COMMENT: Any move to reduce the impact of poor quality science and base our decisions on genuine, peer-reviewed information is a positive one for NZ.

COMMENT: We should be focussing on providing clean, filtered water to as many people as possible, because it is a basic human right, writes Sam Judd. Not selling water off to an overseas company.

Councils everywhere will welcome the Government's move to take the water fluoridating decision out of their hands and give it to DHB's.

Environment Minister Nick Smith says he will not commit to making every single waterway in NZ "swimmable" because it would be too complex and costly.

A 71-year-old eco-warrior has been viciously beaten by four men after posting a video on social media showing sewage seeping into a fresh waterway.

Punakaiki residents say they want to be told if chlorine is added to their drinking-water supply.

Singer-songwriter Jamie McDell is fronting a campaign for DHL and Surf Life Saving New Zealand at Piha and Pauanui, her home beach, this month.

Water safety experts are begging young men to stop overestimating their abilities or underestimating conditions after a deadly day on New Zealand's waters.

Last week, the image of a herd of cows in a pristine high country lake provoked widespread outrage, writes Dame Anne Salmond. The mood of the country has changed.

Witnesses report a body has been found off the Beach Haven wharf.

Hamish Rieger spent his last lifeguard shift helping a 5-year-old with a blue-bottle jellyfish sting, and helping one of his mates out of the surf.

The Mt Maunganui teenager who drowned after being swept off rocks had just finished his shift as a surf lifeguard.

A "level 2 restriction" on water has been put in place for residents in the Foxton and Foxton Beach areas.

The 12-year-old boy who died in a boating accident will leave 'a bloody huge hole in the family' his father says.

Flint residents take city to court after lead levels in children spike following water switch.