Water is a common good and a limited resource that must be protected and used in a sustainable way, both in terms of quality and quantity. However, it is under pressure due to its multiple uses in different and diverse sectors, such as human consumption, agriculture, fish farming, tourism, transport and energy. The Regulation of protected areas is being drafted where the water resource is an important factor. The current situation regarding water quality in some categories of protected areas demonstrates that the lack of a normative act for identification, delimitation and management of protected areas of water bodies is one of the causes of continuous degradation of water quality.