National will reveal its detailed Three Waters policy closer to next year's election, the party's local government spokesperson says.
North Shore MP Simon Watts told Q+A's Jack Tame that the party agrees there needs to be reform, while it opposes the Government's current proposals to change how storm, waste and drinking water are managed.
But unlike other opponents of the proposals, such as Communities 4 Local Democracy and newly elected mayors, National has not released its own alternative model for how water services should be reformed.
Watts said that's because the party "respects the process that we go through in democracy in this country and the select committee process has just finished".
"We agree in a large part around what we've seen tabled in terms of those alternative models. We've said we will work with local councils, not against them if we're lucky enough to be in Government next year."
He said National will work through the details of what was said in Parliament's Finance and Expenditure select committee - which recommended changes to the bill to improve accountability measures.
Auckland's Wayne Brown, Christchurch's Phil Mauger and Dan Gordon of Waimakariri say the key Government plan has failed at achieving political consensus. (Source: 1News)
"At the end of the day, there's still a lot of dialogue happening - we've got two more bills coming to the House in regard to this. This conversation is not over," Watts said.
He said National had been clear about its priorities to repeal Labour's Three Waters legislation, remove co-governance provisions, and maintain local ownership of water assets.
Currently, the Government's proposed model will see councils collectively own the water service entities operating in their area, but only retain their influence over it through their councils and other interest forums.
It has been five years since former Local Government Minister Anne Tolley proposed an initial review of Three Waters, and three years since current minister Nanaia Mahuta kick-started the reform programme with Cabinet.
Watts said National continued to support new regulator Taumata Arowai, alongside mechanisms that would give councils more options to fund necessary improvements to its water.
When asked which councils needed to focus on upping its water quality, he noted: "When you get down to some parts of the South Island, there are a couple of areas down there where it gets quite bad."
But as for how large the bill might be to maintain and upgrade those councils' assets, Watts couldn't pinpoint a figure.
"The challenge really comes back to how do you sustainably fund and finance the infrastructure requirements, particularly when you've got small communities," he said.
"The reality is, councils have told us in that area they are already and have plans to undertake that investment.
"The challenge with them being merged into one mega entity in the South Island is potentially some of those changes and reforms may be delayed or may be slowed."
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