Abstract
Many countries are grappling with how best to reconcile with their Indigenous peoples. This article explores the existing legal framework that has developed in Aotearoa New Zealand in the past two decades to provide a platform for Māori to assert legal rights to water. It canvasses the rights contained in the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Treaty of Waitangi Claim Settlement statutes, along with the possibilities inherent in the common law doctrine of native title. As the current New Zealand Government recognises, Māori rights to water are far from being conclusively defined or resolved.