Amendment and Supplement to the National Water Law, Law No. 49/2010.

The document amends the National Water Law, Law No. 49/2010. It establishes a legal framework for the ownership, administration, protection, development and use of national water resources. Natural water resources are vested in the State on behalf of the people, while regulated rights of use may be granted to public bodies, private persons, communities and water-user groups. The law defines water resources broadly, including surface water, groundwater, natural and artificial reservoirs, desalinated water, treated or reused water and coastal waters, and requires water rights, including customary rights, to be registered and administered through competent public authorities. The law regulates water extraction, water service provision, tariffs, public and private investment in water infrastructure, and the delegation of water-service management to local authorities, public agencies, private providers or public-private partnership arrangements. It requires permits for certain forms of water abstraction, especially where extraction exceeds prescribed thresholds, concerns public supply systems or affects controlled water sources. It also provides for the restriction, suspension, takeover or cancellation of permits in cases of over-abstraction, water scarcity, pollution, salinisation, environmental degradation, erosion or non-use. Urban and rural water supply are governed through distinct institutional arrangements, while customary mechanisms are recognised for rural water, livestock watering and irrigation disputes, subject to referral to courts where local settlement fails. It regulates agricultural water rights and provides that, in cases of serious scarcity, priority is given first to human consumption, then livestock and then agriculture. It requires planning of livestock water points in consultation with relevant ministries to prevent land degradation and erosion, and establishes rules on drinking-water quality, groundwater protection, surface-water use, wastewater discharge, solid waste deposition near water bodies, protected borehole areas, watercourse extraction, compensation for public water works, liability and penalties.