Decree-Law No. 76/2016 approving the National Water Plan (NAP).

This Decree-Law approves, in the Annex, the National Water Plan (NAP) whose objectives are defined in Law No. 58/2005 of 29 December, as amended and republished by Decree-Law No. 130/2012 of 22 June (Water Law). This Plan establishes the framework for water management and transposes Directive 2000/60/EC of the Parliament and the Council of 23 October 2000 into a national legislation. NAP is a sectoral policy instrument of national and strategic scope. Water management pursues three fundamental objectives: a) protection and upgrading of the status of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands dependent on them, as regards their water requirements; b) promotion of the sustainable, balanced and equitable use of good quality water, with its allocation to the various types of uses taking into account their economic value, based on long-term protection of available water resources; and c) mitigation of the effects of floods and droughts.
PNA also aims to protect marine waters, including territorial waters, and to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of relevant international agreements, including those aimed at preventing and eliminating marine pollution. The strategic objectives of the water management policy are to protect the aquatic environment against damage caused by polluting discharges, to restore the functioning of natural systems and to combat the loss of biodiversity, while ensuring the provision on water quality to the populations and economic activities, protecting them from extreme, flood and dry hydrological phenomena.