A trust fund is being set up to look after the health of the Waikato River as authorities agree in principle for Auckland to take more water from it.
The agreement is an interim measure to help ease the region's drought crisis while a Board of Enquiry is looking at the city's resource consent application to take more water from the Waikato Regional Council long term.
Several millions of dollars will go into the new fund to improve the river's water quality.
Chen Liu reports.
