Water laws are regulated individually by sovereign states. Globally, there are no universal rules that water related service providers need to fulfil. This goes for both the water-and-sewerage service providers and bottled water producers.

However, for countries within the European Union, water-related directives are important for water resource management and environmental and water quality standards. Key directives include the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive 1992 (requiring most towns and cities to treat their wastewater to specified standards), and the Water Framework Directive 2000, which requires water resource plans based on river basins, including public participation based on Aarhus Convention principles. See Watertime - the international context http://www.watertime.net/Docs/WP1/D7_Int_Context_final-revb.pdf , Section 2.