Approval of reform to Law 620, General Law of National Waters in Nicaragua
Recently, the National Assembly of the Republic of Nicaragua approved Law No. 1046, Reform Law to Law No. 620, General Law of National Waters. The General Water Law was approved in 2007, with the aim of establishing the institutional legal framework for the administration, conservation, development, use, sustainable, equitable use and preservation in quantity and quality of all existing water resources in the country, be they surface, underground, residual and of any other nature, while guaranteeing the protection of other natural resources, ecosystems and the environment.
Through this reform, almost half of the articles of Law 620 were modified, granting greater powers to the National Water Authority (ANA) and creating the National Council for the Development of Water Resources and the Commission for the Sustainable Administration of Water Resources. Water resources. From now on, ANA will have regulatory and control powers to supervise the management of water resources and drinking water and sanitation services.
With this reform, the ANA is empowered to exceptionally grant exploitation and operation licenses to private economic agents, for which the requirements established in the law must be met and those that in the future may be determined by some regulation. So far there is no knowledge of any concession that has been made to any private.
For its part, the National Council for the Development of Water Resources, which will have the participation of the Presidency of the Republic, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the National Water Authority, among others; It will be the highest instance to carry out water planning and will promote the granting of economic incentives and stimuli to natural or legal persons that protect and conserve water sources and reforest the basins where their properties are located.
Said incentives will be established in the Special Law on Canons for the Use or Exploitation of Water Resources and Discharges, which has not yet been enacted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Nicaragua.
Additionally, the Commission for the Sustainable Administration of Water Resources will have the function of establishing facilities and fiscal and financial incentives that allow the productive development and rational use of irrigation, preferably in the following circumstances:
- When the efficient and productive use of the concessioned or authorized volumes of water is verified; Y
- When the implementation of modern technologies and methods within optimal parameters of costs and competitiveness that increase cleaner production and avoid water contamination is verified.