Ngāti Kahungunu says it's been tricked by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council into supporting a water project it strongly opposes.
The Provincial Growth Fund awarded $30 million to the council for water security projects in August, after the region's leaders - including the chair of Ngāti Kahungunu - signed a letter of support.
But the iwi's environment and natural resources director, Ngaio Tiuka, says they didn't find out until a month later some of the money would go towards exploring controversial technologies like river augmentation - which the council knew it did not support.
