Law No. 147 of 2021 promulgating the Water Resources and Irrigation Law.

This Law consisting of 126 articles divided into X Chapters aims at establishing effective water administration, distribution, irrigation, and drainage systems.
Chapter II in article 2 lists the public properties related to water resources and irrigation as follows (i) the course of the Nile River and its bridges; (ii) waterways; (iii) flood drains and protection facilities supervised by the Ministry; (iv) the establishments for balancing irrigation and drainage water or protecting lands, cities, and villages from water erosion, as well as other state-owned industrial facilities related to irrigation and drainage; (v) lake Nasser basin and other basins as decided by the State; (vi) land established by the state that is located around the underground wells of its property to protect them and ensure their good use, and state-owned land used for the collection of groundwater; (vii) land confiscated for the public benefit for development, management, and use. Furthermore and shall be transferred to the Ministry the authority over all lands and real estate of the state’s public property related to water resources and irrigation (art.3). The chapter deals also with the private business within public domains related to water resources and irrigation, and establishes the prohibited actions, such as (i) cultivation or used for any purpose without a license from the competent public administration (art.7); (ii) cutting or uprooting palms and trees (art.8); (iii) conduct any private work or to make modification or restoration therein, without a license from the Ministry (art.9). Article 16 establishes that landowners, holders, or tenants who benefit from private watering and drains, private underground wells, or private irrigation and drainage facilities must purify them, remove plants and weeds that obstruct the flow of water, and maintain them. The lands through which a private irrigator or a private drain passes shall be considered as bearing an easement right in favor of the other lands that benefit from that irrigator or that drain (art.19).
Chapter III regarding Water distribution, in detail, provides for (i) management, organization, and distribution of water and establishes that (a) the Ministry is responsible for managing and regulating the distribution of water from all its resources to private intakes and openings for all uses (art.26); (b) the Minister, in agreement with the Minister concerned with Agriculture and Land Reclamation, determinates the areas designated for the annual cultivation of rice, as well as the types of crops with high water needs (art.28); (ii) water intakes and outfalls of drains, possible only by obtaining permission by the Ministry; (iii) water lifting machines, establishing that it is not permissible, without a license from the Ministry, to establish or operate any fixed or mobile lifting machine managed by one of the mechanical methods or otherwise to raise or drain water on the course of the Nile River, waterways, public irrigation and drainage networks, or reservoirs (art.35).
Chapter IV regards Water User Associations and the development and improvement of irrigation and drainage systems. These Associations are not-for-profits with independent legal personalities, licensed by a Ministerial decree. Their objectives shall strengthen and enhance collaboration between users and the Ministry in managing, developing, and enhancing irrigation and drainage systems. The Association of Users shall have a general assembly, board of directors, and chairman and be elected for four years. While as regards the development and improvement of irrigation and drainage systems, the main provisions of the Law are (i) the funds of the Water Users Associations are considered public funds (art.49), and the Watershed Development and Maintenance Projects Fund shall replace the existing fund (art.53) and it serves to implement irrigation systems development projects, raising awareness, studies and scientific research in the field of water uses and assisting water user associations in achieving their objectives; (ii) it is prohibited to operate any pumps on the developed watering cans or to make any modification to the components of the advanced irrigation systems without the approval of the competent public administration (art.54); (iii) the Ministry shall establish, replace and renew the network of covered or uncovered field drains.
Chapter V deals with the irrigation and drainage of new lands, and the Ministry determines the source of irrigation for the new land and the outlet for its drainage, and it is not permissible to allocate any lands for new horizontal agricultural expansion without obtaining the approval of the Ministry (art.61).
Protecting the course of the Nile River and its bridges is the subject of Chapter VI. Groundwater issues are dealt with in Chapter VII and mainly regard well drilling (a Prime Minister decree shall establish a high committee to examine requests for licenses), controls on the usage rates for irrigation and other uses, and drilling of injection wells used to dispose of wastewater resulting from the desalination of saline and semi-saline water. The term of a well license is five years subject to renewal. Chapter VIII's theme is the protection of resources, water facilities, and beaches, in particular (i) the dangers of rising water levels; (ii) protecting water and removing obstacles to irrigation and drainage; (iii) management and protection of marine beaches; (iv) protection from the dangers of rain and floods.