Law No. 16/91 approving the Water Act.

This Law consisting of 76 articles, establishes the Water Act. It establishes water resources that belong to the public domain, water management principles, the need for an inventory of all existing water resources in the country, the general rules of its use, its priorities, the general rights of users and the corresponding obligations. In particular, article 1 defines all internal waters as State property, considering them as public waters. Waterworks, equipment and water infrastructures are under public domain as well. The purpose of this Act is to define water as public domain of State and establishes general policy in the water management sector, general legal regime for protection and conservation activities, exploitation of water resources, as well as defines competencies of the Government in this sector (art. 2).