Last year was marked by a number of tragedies from water-related hazards. As the recent large scale poisoning with water in the Ul’yanovskaya province demonstrated, this was caused not only by climate change and natural phenomena. Currently many problems accumulated in water management in Russia: the Water Code not meeting the present requirements to full degree; poor legally fixed incentives for application of newest technologies; a number of internal contradictions in water legislation; fragmentation of the water sector. In this context, it is necessary to harmonize water legislation, elaborate clear and understandable regulations for all actors, and create conditions for bringing together the functions of water management and protection under one institution.