Water Resources Management and Regulation Act (No. 1 of 2025).

This Act aims to guarantee that the State's water resources are responsibly managed, enhanced, safeguarded, preserved, distributed, and utilized in alignment with the fundamental principles outlined in section 5. The policy of the Government is: (i) to ensure the orderly and coordinated development and use of the State’s water resources; and (ii) to conserve and protect the water resources for the benefit of present and future generations of Grenadians. The Minister, in accordance with established policy requirements aforementioned, shall be responsible for advancing a national strategy for water supply across the State and ensuring its effective implementation by the designated authorities. Additionally, the Minister shall oversee that all duties related to water supply—such as expanding access, managing distribution, and promoting responsible usage of water resources—are performed by the relevant unit in a way that guarantees the successful execution of the policy.
The fundamential principles governing the management of water resources are: (a) integrated and sustainable water resources management; (b) priority of allocation use for domestic use; (c) second priority of allocation use for the environment; (d) equitable access to water; (e) efficient, sustainable and beneficial use of water; (f) no private ownership of water; (g) allocation of water equitably, and its management and control in a sustainable and equitable manner, in the public interest, while promoting economic, environmental and social values; (h) gender equality and women empowerment and full participation in issues and decisions relating to the sustainable development of water resources and in the use of water; (i) sustainable, beneficial, reasonable and equitable management and control of water resources for the needs of the present and future generations; and (j) the management and utilization of water resources taking into account climate change adaptation. This Act adopts the precautionary principle; the polluter pays principle; the principle of ecosystem integrity; the principle of public participation in the development of policies, plans and processes for the management of the water resources; and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
This Act lays down provisions on the establishment and functions of the Water Resources Management Unit; regulatory oversight of the Unit by the Commission; water quantity and quality management; the measurement of environmental flow level or volume of water resources; specification of the reserve for all or part of a water resource; ambient standards, water resource quality and monitoring and pollution control; declaration of water management area for the purpose of protecting any water resource, watershed, wetland, environment or ecosystem at risk of depletion, contamination, extinction or disturbance from any source; measures to control or prevent water pollution; declaration of a water-related emergency, such as an exceptional shortage of rain or contamination of a water resource; requirement and the procedures of abstraction licence for the abstraction and use of water in the State and the construction of any works for such abstraction and use; declaration of an area as a water control area; regulation of waste discharges to protect the water resources from pollution or reduction in water quality; permit for the water use in a water control area or a waste control area; the establishment and functions of an Appeals Tribunal; and offences and penalties, such as waste of underground water from wells unlawfully, not complying with the direction of Unit for abstraction license or the breach of the terms of a permit.