Prime Minister John Key is moving towards granting preferential water rights to Government-created tribal corporations - this is after saying on countless occasions that ‘no one owns' the water in NZ.

Key has slipped so many backdoor deals through to keep in with the Maori Party what is next?

A report commissioned by the Iwi Leaders Group calling for 'an equitable, permanent share” of water allocations has been released , following a recent Cabinet Paper proposing criteria to give 'preferential access” to private tribal companies that pay little tax on a case-by-case basis.

Talks between the powerful Iwi Leaders Group and the Government, fronted by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Environment Minister Nick Smith, are at a critical stage after ministers rejected a nationwide ‘Waterlords' settlement along the lines of the outrageous Sealords deal over Maori commercial fishing claims and the Treelords giveaway of Central North Island forestry.

The claim that tribes own the water has no merit and only exists because it has repeated so often that some have started to take it as a fact.

Where will this end,? Will we be unable to walk down to the beach, have to pay local Maori for drinking water, and what will it cost to fill a swimming pool?

R Anderson, Rotorua.