Waikato Regional Council hopes government funding will cover the costs of cleaning up the Waikato River so that no further money will be needed from ratepayers and farmers.
On Friday, the Crown and Tainui signed a Treaty of Waitangi settlement for the river worth more than $300 million. Most of the funding will go into a trust fund to clean up the river.
A new statutory board will also be established covering the lower half of the river. Half of the board's representatives will come from Waikato-Tainui, and the rest from local government.
Regional council chairman Peter Buckley says the agreement leaves undecided the question of what statutory environmental management powers might be transferred to the new board.
