Undang-Undang 17/2019 is the Indonesian statute on water resources, Undang-Undang Nomor 17 Tahun 2019 tentang Sumber Daya Air, which governs the state's control of water, the people's right to water, the division of management tasks between levels of government, and the licensing of water use. It was signed on 15 October 2019, promulgated the next day and took effect on promulgation. It is the principal instrument of the water resources law of Indonesia, and it revoked the 1974 irrigation statute that had been revived after the Constitutional Court annulled the 2004 water resources law.^[1][2][3]

The statute declares water resources to be controlled by the state, bars their ownership by individuals, community groups or business entities, and guarantees a right to water for minimum daily basic needs, which its elucidation quantifies at 60 litres per person per day. It sets an order of priority for allocation that places basic daily needs and smallholder agriculture ahead of commercial use, and it organises management by river territory (wilayah sungai) rather than by administrative boundary.^[4][5][6]

Commercial and non-commercial use beyond the exempt categories requires a permit, which cannot be leased or transferred, and business use by private parties is allowed only on strict conditions after state-owned, regional and village enterprises. The licensing provisions were recast in 2022 by the job-creation legislation, later enacted as UU 6/2023, and two provisions on nature reserves were revoked in 2024. Its general implementing regulation is PP 30/2024.^{[7][8][9][10]}

¶ Background

The preamble records that the statute was needed because the reinstated 1974 irrigation law, Undang-Undang Nomor 11 Tahun 1974 tentang Pengairan, could not govern water resources management as a whole after the Constitutional Court annulled Undang-Undang Nomor 7 Tahun 2004 tentang Sumber Daya Air.^[3:1] The general elucidation lists three reviews of the 2004 law by the Court, ending with case 85/PUU-XI/2013, decided on 18 February 2015, which removed the 2004 law and brought the 1974 statute back into force.^[11] The history of those challenges is treated at constitutional review in Indonesia.

The statute rests on Pasal 18A, 18B, 20, 21 and 33 of the 1945 Constitution.^[3:2] Pasal 2 lists eleven principles of management, among them public benefit (kemanfaatan umum), affordability, justice, local wisdom (kearifan lokal), sustainability, and transparency and accountability. Pasal 3 sets its aims, the first of which is to protect and guarantee the people's right to water, and Pasal 4 defines its scope in ten subjects running from state control to coordination.^[12]

CRPG's regulatory tracker published an English-language analysis of the statute in November 2025, recording it as the governing framework for water resources and noting the partial revocation by UU 32/2024.^[13]

¶ State control and the right to water

Pasal 5 provides that water resources are controlled by the state and used for the greatest prosperity of the people, and Pasal 7 provides that they cannot be owned or controlled by an individual, a community group or a business entity. Pasal 6 obliges the state to guarantee the people's right to water for minimum daily basic needs, in sufficient quantity, of good quality, safe, sustained and affordable. The elucidation to Pasal 6 defines those needs as water for one's own daily use amounting to 60 litres per person per day.^[4:1]

Pasal 8 turns the right into an allocation rule. Beyond the guaranteed minimum, the state gives priority to daily basic needs, to smallholder agriculture (pertanian rakyat), and to business use that supplies daily basic needs through a drinking water supply system; where water is insufficient, daily basic needs come first. Only when water is sufficient do non-commercial public uses and other licensed business uses follow. Central and regional governments fix the order of priority for each river territory after first reserving the water needed to maintain water sources and the environment. Pasal 8 ayat (7) states that the right to water is not a right of ownership but a right to obtain and use a quota allocated under a government regulation.^[5:1] The tenurial questions this raises are discussed at water tenure.

Pasal 9 gives the central and regional governments the task and authority to regulate and manage water resources on the basis of state control, while recognising the customary rights (hak ulayat) of customary law communities so long as they still exist in fact and have been regulated by a regional regulation, and do not conflict with the national interest.^[14]

¶ Division of responsibility

Pasal 10 to Pasal 16 divide tasks and powers by the class of river territory. The central government prepares and adopts the management pattern (pola) and plan (rencana) for cross-border, cross-provincial and nationally strategic river territories, including their groundwater basins, sets national norms, standards, procedures and criteria, and licenses water use in those territories. Provinces and districts or municipalities hold the equivalent tasks for river territories crossing districts within one province and for those within a single district. Pasal 17 gives village governments a supporting role, including helping the district meet villagers' minimum daily needs.^[15] Groundwater is managed within the same river territories, a subject treated at groundwater regulation in Indonesia.^[6:1]

Under Pasal 19, part of this work in a river territory may be assigned to a water resources manager (Pengelola Sumber Daya Air), which may be a technical unit of a ministry or region or a state-owned or regionally owned enterprise. The assignment cannot include setting policy, adopting the pattern or plan, designating protected areas, issuing permits, forming coordination bodies, setting norms or the unit value of the water resources management service fee.^[16]

¶ Management

Pasal 21 to Pasal 23 require water resources to be managed in an integrated, sustainable and environmentally sound way on the basis of the river territory, with attention to the links between surface water and groundwater and with priority given to surface water. Management comprises three activities: conservation (konservasi), use (pendayagunaan) and control of water's destructive power (pengendalian daya rusak air).^[6:2] Conservation, under Pasal 24 and Pasal 26, covers protection of water sources, water preservation, water quality management and pollution control, and applies to springs, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, swamps, groundwater recharge areas and basins, catchments, conservation areas, forests and coasts.^[17] The setback lines that protect rivers and lakes are fixed under a ministerial regulation, discussed at Permen PUPR 28/2015.

Control of destructive power, under Pasal 35, covers prevention, response and recovery, with prevention given priority through planning in the management pattern; governors and regents may take emergency measures when danger arises. Pasal 36 prohibits any activity that may cause water's destructive power.^[18] As enacted, Pasal 33 prohibited the use of water resources in nature reserve and nature conservation areas except by individuals for their own daily needs. That article and the matching offence in Pasal 69 huruf c were revoked by Undang-Undang 32/2024, which amended the 1990 conservation statute.^[19][9:1]

¶ Licensing

Pasal 44 requires a permit for the use of water resources for business and non-business needs, issued by the central or regional government according to competence, and provides that a permit cannot be leased or transferred in whole or in part. Pasal 45 limits the need for a non-business permit for daily needs and smallholder agriculture to use that alters the natural condition of a water source, serves a group needing large volumes, or lies outside existing irrigation systems.^[7:1]

Pasal 46 sets the principles for business use: it may not interfere with the people's right to water, state supervision is absolute, priority goes to state-owned, regionally owned and village-owned enterprises, and private parties may be licensed only on strict conditions once those principles are met and water remains available. Pasal 47 allows business use only after daily needs and smallholder agriculture are met, and Pasal 49 lists the order in which permits are granted, ending with private businesses.^[7:2] The consolidated text shows that the 2022 job-creation regulation in lieu of law recast these permits as business licences (Perizinan Berusaha) or approvals for the use of water resources, while keeping the prohibition on transfer and the order of priority.^[8:1]

¶ Coordination, offences and transition

Pasal 64 and Pasal 65 require coordination at national, provincial, district and river-territory levels. National coordination is conducted by the National Water Resources Council (Dewan Sumber Daya Air Nasional), established by the President, with government representatives as permanent members and non-government representatives as non-permanent members; its tasks include formulating national policy and drafting the designation of river territories.^[20]

Pasal 68 to Pasal 70 set criminal penalties with minimum and maximum terms. Intentionally damaging water sources, polluting water or causing destructive power carries three to nine years' imprisonment and a fine of Rp5 billion to Rp15 billion, and using water resources for business without a permit, or leasing or transferring a permit, carries one to three years and a fine of Rp1 billion to Rp5 billion.^[21]

Permits issued under the earlier regime remained valid until they expired. Pasal 76 revoked the 1974 statute and kept earlier implementing regulations in force where consistent, Pasal 77 revoked the water resources entries in the annex to the 2014 regional government law, and Pasal 78 required implementing regulations within two years of promulgation.^[2:1] The general implementing regulation, PP 30/2024 on water resources management, was enacted on 14 August 2024 to implement more than a dozen provisions of the statute as amended by UU 6/2023.^[10:1]

¶ See also

• Permen PUPR 8/2024
• Permen LH 1/2010
• Water and sanitation bill of Indonesia
• UU 32/2009

¶ External links

• UU No. 17 Tahun 2019 (JDIH BPK)
• CRPG: What Water Resources Framework Governs Indonesia Under UU 17/2019? (crpg.id, 26 November 2025) (free sign-in required on crpg.id)

¶ References