It’s widely acknowledged that First Nations peoples value water in ways quite different to the industrialised West. Reconciling the different framings has always been a challenge. Working collaboratively with Aboriginal experts and state government water planners in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Sarah Laborde and Sue Jackson developed two conceptual models to compare propositions about the ontological character of water, a Living Waters model and a Modern Water model. Here they explain the models, how they are different, and why these differences are so important.