Waipa District Council and Hamilton City have launched a joint consultation process around forming a separate company to manage water, wastewater and stormwater.
In May this year both councils agreed a joint, non-asset owning shared waters management company was their preferred option for consultation to manage water services in the future, given growth and advantages of scale.
The proposed company would not own any major water assets - assets would remain 100 per cent owned by each council. All major decisions, including decisions on capital projects, investment and how to charge for water would continue to be made by elected members at respective councils.
The finances of each council would remain completely separate.
Waikato District Council, which has also been involved in discussions, has yet to decide whether or not it supports forming a company with the other two councils.