Water Resources Regulations, 2018 (G.N. No. 11 of 2018).

These Regulations provide for a wide variety of matters regarding the management of water resources and implement provisions of the Water Resources Act. The 176 Regulations are divided into 15 parts: Preliminary (I); Registration of Existing Rights (II); Licensing of Water Abstraction and Use (III); Surface Water Management, Development and Administration (IV); Groundwater Management, Development and Administration (V); Water Quality Management and Pollution Control (VI); Water Works (VII); Conditions of Authorization, Permits and Approved Water Uses (VIII); Water and Effluent Charges (IX); Conservation of Riparian and Catchment Areas (X); Catchment Management Strategies (XI); Protected Catchment Areas (XII); The Water Reserve (XIII); Qualified Professionals and Contractors (XIV); Miscellaneous Provisions (XV). The Regulations are completed by 26 Schedules. The Regulations shall apply to all policies, plans, programmes, and activities that are subject to the Act.
Any person who intends or undertakes any activities relating to water, which under the Act require a licence, shall obtain a licence or a permit, as the case may be, from the National Water Resources Authority to undertake the activity. Where the intended water use activity is on any land, the Authority may require the applicant to furnish satisfactory evidence of land ownership or permission to undertake the water use activity on any land related to the application. A person claiming an existing right shall register the right within 12 months of coming into force of these Regulations. Licenses for water abstraction and use shall be obtained from the Authority. WUAs shall be consulted on applications. The Authority may classify water use activities into different categories for the better management of the water resources. When allocating water for irrigation, the Authority shall give priority to smallholder irrigation. The Authority shall classify dams according to the criteria detailed in Table 1 of the Fifth Schedule. The Regulations also concern works associated with fish movement, protection and control. A land owner or a legally authorized operator of the land on which a wetland is situated shall apply to the Authority for approval for any proposed or existing developments such as drainage, discharge into or construction that would affect, the wetland
A person who wishes to engage in the business of constructing boreholes shall apply to the Authority for a drilling permit in the format prescribed in the Sixth Schedule but the Authority may declare any class of boreholes or class of works to be a class to which this requirement does not apply.
The Minister may, after consultation with relevant public authorities as per the Act, prescribe the standards for treated effluent before discharge into water bodies or on land. ach application for an effluent discharge permit shall contain an Effluent Discharge Management Plan substantially as prescribed in the Seventeenth Schedule. The Regulations formulate a general obligation to mitigate pollution and require the Authority to inspect and sample any sources of water pollution. In the event that an inspector intends to take a water or wastewater quality sample for purposes of prosecution, activities listed in the Thirteenth Schedule shall apply. There shall be a water quality and effluent discharge register.
The Regulations provide for the protection of banks on riparian land from cultivation and other activities. Unless authorized by the Authority, a person shall not undertake the activities listed in the Fifteenth Schedule on riparian land (prodcibed activities). For the purposes of conserving the catchments and the riparian areas, the Authority may state and require by order or under a permit or licence a person to prepare and conform to a Soil and Water Conservation Plan. The Authority shall formulate Catchment Management Strategies for each catchment area which shall substantially follow the format laid out in the Seventeenth Schedule and shall develop management rules or plans that shall apply to each protected area or groundwater conservation area. A person who fails to comply with the management rules or plans commits an offence.
Where information is available from the water resource records and on reserve water demand, the Authority shall establish the reserve quantity and shall be guided by the estimates of the quantity of water required to satisfy the reserve water demand. Where water resource records are not available or where there are significant ambiguities, the Authority shall establish the reserve and shall be guided by- (a) ecological vulnerability; (b) vulnerability of population dependent on that water resource; (c) local observations with respect to the naturalized flows or water levels of minimum values observed during periods of prolonged droughts; (d) where water flow is known to be normally perennial, then the reserve quantity shall be sufficient to ensure perennial flow; and (e) consultations with associations of water users if such exists. Measures that the Authority may take in regard of reserve violations include but are not limited to activities listed in the Sixteenth Schedule.
Where unusual climatic, accidental or hydrological events has occurred, the Minister may impose an Emergency Order in the interests of maintaining the reserve and water for domestic purposes.