Water (Resources) Regulations, Legal Notice No. 58 of 2025.

These Regulations, implementing provisions of the Water Act of 2016, provide for the regulation of water resources and water use activities and the registration of water sector professional. The Regulations apply to: management, use and development of water resources in Kenya; all water resources of Kenya whether perennial or seasonal including water resources of the territorial sea. The Regulation define the following relevant terms: water abstraction; aquifer; artificial groundwater recharge; basic human needs, as the quantity of water required for drinking, food preparation, washing of clothes, bathing, basic sanitation; basin water resources committee; basin area water resources management strategy; borehole; chemical; class of water resources; commercial irrigation; dam; domestic water demand; effluent; emergency; fish farming; evidence of land; groundwater potential; landholder; land reclamation; water pollution; riparian reserve; soil and water conservation plan; use of water; waste disposal control plan; watercourse; water resources monitoring network; water resource user association; Water Tribunal; wetland.
Matters covered by these Regulations include the following: classification of water use activities; requirement for a permit for water use activities; application for a permit for water use; impact of the projects on the water resource; application for water use permit for surface and groundwater; conditions under issuance of water permit; register of approved water users; surface water allocation; declaration of a water course and boundary of properties defined by a water course; requirements for authorising the reclamation of land; allocation of water for irrigation purposes; development of hydropower energy sources; activities involving fisheries and consultation with the department responsible for fisheries, in order to ensure protection and control of fish; groundwater development authorisation; borehole and well test pumping; issuance of groundwater use permit or authorisation; artificial groundwater recharge; water quality monitoring and effluent disposal; control of water pollution; spillage of any hazardous or radioactive substance into any water resource; enforcement of pollution control; inspection of waterworks; compliance with environmental protection measures; collection and submission of abstraction, water quality and effluent discharge data.
Further measures covered by these Regulations include: water use charges; penalties for over-abstraction; groundwater conservation charge; determination of riparian reserve; proscribed activities on riparian reserve; preparation of soil and water conservation policies and plan; registration and operation of water resources users' associations; operations of water resources users' associations; basin water resources committees and designation of basin areas; identification of protected or designated groundwater conservation areas; registration and categories of water sector professionals.