The water management of Paraiba State after the advent of the Federal Water Law no. 9.433/97 that deals about PNRH, took a new political course. Included within this wider context, the state management was deeply reformatted, thus emerged recent water institution with a lack of consistent looks, knowledge and proactive actions in order to capture by an easy way their essence and directions. Considering the context above, this article has the following general purpose: To investigate the policy and management of water resources on sub-basin springs of Rio do Peixe/Paraiba in their dimensions: legal-institutional and environmental from the Brazilian State Reform in the mid 1900s of the past century. Of the legal-water texts interpreted we realizes that there is a mismatch between the legal-water rules (9.433/97 and 6.308/96) and their knowledge by the population living surroundings the Basin. Analyzing the newly created water institution of Paraiba occurred just a decentralization of the institutional arrangements, but not an effective decentralization on the State Policy of Water Resources of Paraiba. One important point is the degradation process of sub-basin springs on Rio do Peixe, we can observed the absence of riparian forest in the course of natural river, with excessive silting, not allowing the water course surface in some places. It is suggested to implement the tool of education water-environmental on Programs and State Policy Plans of Paraiba Water Resources.
