: To properly use, protect, manage and develop water resources on the surface or underground or in any other situation within Nepal and to determine the beneficial uses of water resources, to prevent environmental and other harmful effects from such use and to keep water resources free from pollution. As it is desirable to make arrangements, Parliament has made this Act in the twenty-first year of the reign of Shri 5th Maharajadhiraj Birendra Bir Bikram Shahdev.