Water Law No.3 of 2002.

This Law, consisting of 44 articles divided in XI Sections, aims to develop and manage the water resources, to increase capacity, to improve quality, to preserve, and to protect them against pollution and depletion. As leading principles the Law states that all water resources in Palestine are considered public property and recognizes the right to water for all (Art.3). Water use (domestic use, irrigation, agriculture, industry, trade, tourism, other uses public or private) is possible only after obtaining the license by the Palestinian Water Authority. The PWA also manages with licensing fees, conditions, duration and renovation, procedures and everything related to the licenses.
Legal basis for the Water Authority are provided by this Law. It grants legal personality to the Authority, whose budget is part of the general budget of the Palestinian National Authority. The Law stipulates that the Water Authority has the right to: supervise, control and regulate regional utilities; set times when licensed operators of water or waste water facilities must give periodic reports, set the necessary rules and standards for inspections and to control leaks of water; to inspect water resources and systems of supply, and any place where pollution is suspected.
In coordination with the other authorities for environmental protection, the PWA will deal with: organization of industrial and agricultural use of substances that may cause the contamination of water sources or supply systems; preparation of guidelines for environmental impact assessment for any activity related to the sector; preparation of the crisis management system in the event of drought or floods or epidemics across the water or in pollution, and preparation of a list of contaminants that require a license and compensation for damage resulting from them.
The Law also sets the composition, tasks and responsibilities of the National Water Council, chaired by the chairman of the Palestinian Authority and having as members the most involved ministers in the water sector and representatives of selected stakeholder groups. The Council will primarily sanction policies and plans, ratify and approve the Water Authority’s reports, guidelines and internal regulations.
The Law has a chapter on Regional Water Utilities, in which it is stated that Regional Water Utilities will be established on the desire of local authorities and water users' associations, and that the Water Authority will have the right to supervise regional utilities. Further regulations will set tasks and responsibilities.
The XI Sections are entitled as follows: Definitions and General Provisions (I); The Water Authority (II); The National Water Council (III); Chairman of the Authority and his functions and powers (IV); Licensing and tariffs (V); financial resources (VI); Regional Water Utilities (VII); Environmental Protection (VIII); Controls and Inspections (IX); Offences and penalties (X); and Final Provisions (XI).