Mighty River Power and the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board have signed a deal over water in Lake Taupo, the terms of which the electricity generator says are confidential.

Fourteen per cent of monitored beaches in New Zealand are classified as "high risk" for water quality issues.

A fisherman who was swept 200m out to sea after he slipped and his waders filled up with water, had a lucky escape, says a man who helped get him on to dry land.

Champion wakeboarder Brad Smeele will tonight make a rare trip out from his care unit where he has been since returning home to Auckland in October after a crash left him a quadriplegic.

Shark cage divers and parasailers should be safer under new voluntary guidelines for avoiding risks in the water tourism sector.

Dutch researchers have claimed it's possible three inmates who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 could have survived - but only if their timing was perfect.

Radiant summer weather made a brief call to the North Island at the weekend, attracting hardy bathers into the still-cool water at beaches and creating a run on icecream.

Kayaker Jamie Slessor-White may be a bit better than your average weekend warrior but most of his focus at this weekend's Blue Lakes 2 Canoe Racing Regatta will be on those around him.

Hang on! said Johan Groters as he floored the pedal and the twin V8 Lexus engines roared.The jet boat leaped out of the water and spun around a tree bobbing in the turbulent water.

Changes to the Southern Ocean's sea ice belt could mean see the global level rising several metres, says a new study which has shed more light on an ice-age mystery.

Labour Weekend marks the enforcement of a new bylaw making it compulsory to wear a lifejacket when on board a vessel 6m or under in length, unless the skipper of that vessel gives you permission not to.

Watercare has had to come clean after a whistleblower detailed the closure of two dams supplying Auckland's water for four months due to traces of herbicide.

Mark Ford, who has quietly and efficiently been responsible for ensuring Aucklanders have high-quality water and wastewater disposal, has lost a long battle with illness.

As $100 million of shiny new craft go on display at Auckland's On the Water Boat Show, the Hauraki Gulf has received a damning report about its health.

Watercare chief executive Mark Ford - who is known as "The Fixer" - is expected to step down shortly for health reasons.

No party in an election campaign has a monopoly on wisdom; most have something important to say.

Water pollution from decades of farming may be approaching a "tipping point" which threatens marine life in the Hauraki Gulf, says an experienced scientist.

New Zealand's richest man has splashed out on a second luxury yacht - this one worth up to an estimated $78 million.