Law on water (No. VIII-474).

This Law makes provision for the ownership of bodies of internal waters, the management, use, and protection of water resources, regulates the relationship between owners of bodies of water and users of water resources, and defines rights and obligations of natural and legal persons using water resources.
The text consists of 48 articles divided into 10 Chapters: General provisions (I); Ownership of water resources and rights and duties of users (II); Uses of water resources and water bodies (III); State regulation of the use of water resources (IV); Protection of waters (V); Accounting and monitoring of water resources (VI); Liability for violations of the Law of Water (VII); Financial provisions (VIII); Legal regulation of bodies of water in border areas (IX); Concluding provisions (X).
Article 4 contains an extensive list of definitions. All groundwater is declared to be in public ownership by article 5. Article 5 also defines the "public stock" of internal surface water bodies. Article 10 defines duties of users of private and public water bodies and water resources. Chapter III defines and regulates various uses of water including use for drinking, use for agricultural needs, industrial water use, use for fisheries and hunting (art. 21), discharge of water (art. 22), etc. Chapter IV provides for free water use (art. 26) and use of water subject to permission (art. 27). For each river basin schemes of use and protection of water resources shall be drawn up (art. 29). Chapter V contains provisions relative to management of drilled wells (art. 32), protection zones around water bodies (art. 33), restriction on economic activities that may affect water resources (art. 34). Water users shall supply statistical data n water use to an institution authorized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. There shall be a Public Cadastre of Water Resources, a Public Cadastre of Rivers, Lakes and Reservoirs, a Cadastre of Groundwater, and a public Water Resources Register (art. 39).