River basin management and the national water resources policy in Brazil

In 1997, Brazil enacted Law N-o. 9,433 on Water Resources Management, based on the following principles: water is an asset within the public domain; water is a limited natural resource with economic value; in case of shortages, the primary use of water is for human consumption and drinking water for livestock; its management should foster multiple water use; the river basin is the selected planning unit; water management should be decentralized and cooperative. Until this law came into effect, environmental management in Brazil was based on an institutional and legal structure that assigned high priority to centralized activity by Government agencies, particularly at the Federal and State level, through conventional regulatory control tools.