Royal Decree No.82/88 considering the water reserve a national wealth.

This Royal Decree consisting of 5 articles aims at declaring that the water resources of Oman are a national resource. It refers in particular to the water reserve and the State directs its exploitation to serve the agricultural and development plans. In this sense, it is considered a water reserve the existing underground reservoirs when this decree came into force or that appear thereafter, and whoever owns the land on its surface or from which it is irrigated (art.1). The use of the water stock is subject to the controls that specify the underground reservoirs, the areas that benefit from them, the ways of their passage to them, and the rules for their distribution and use (art.2).