Constitution of the Republic of Uruguay

This is the highest legal norm in the country. According to this, drinking water and sanitation are fundamental human rights, therefore the resource must be managed sustainably and the environment must be protected, since this can have effects on the quality of the water. Therefore, the projects carried out must demonstrate that they do not affect the sustainability of the resource, otherwise they would be violating the standard. It also establishes that all waters (surface, underground, soil moisture, springs) are in the state public domain with the exception of rainwater.