First Nations Water
The First Nations Water company was founded in early 2021 by Michael Woodley and Mike Hollett who aligned their respective long held interests in water, recognising the timing was right to create a specific business focussed on respecting the cultural and community needs of First Nations people with water on their country and their rights to water allocations including for commercial purposes.
The major shareholder in First Nations Water Pty Ltd is the Yindjibarndi Wealth Trust which represents a nation of people with deep water expertise in managing for cultural and community purposes the Millstream and Fortescue River areas in the Pilbara region for over 50,000 years. Together with The Right Water Company as a minority shareholder, providing proven capability and capacity to deliver key water infrastructure, management and operations support. The shareholders have committed to benefit First Nations’ people wherever we operate through direct and indirect benefits including capacity building and business development.
Climate change has exposed water security globally as a key issue and it is now a community expectation that we use the right water for the right purpose and increase our water efficiency and recycling at every opportunity. Water stewardship is a more recently termed phrase for managing sustainably our interactions with the natural water cycle – something that Aboriginal people, as the oldest living culture on earth, have been successfully managing as part of the broader environment.
At First Nations Water we passionately believe that there are better ways to manage our water footprint balancing economic development needs with the interconnectedness of water systems and the natural flora and fauna ecosystems in a more sustainable manner. Our unique approach of combining active on country management together with modern engineering practices, water treatment technologies with carbon abatement programs First Nations Water will truly define sustainable best practice water management.
