Abstract This document aims to identify characteristics of water institutions which promote the sustainable integration of water, both as a resource and as service, into socioeconomic development. As this does not depend only on formal institutional factors, such as legislation and organizational structure, there are also references to dynamic conditions, such as socioeconomic circumstances and the quality of the administration, summarized in the concept of governance, understood as the capability of a social system to mobilize energies, in a coherent manner, for the sustainable development of water resources. As human society becomes ever more complex and the intensity of human impact on natural resources becomes more severe, the need to integrate the different elements of water management becomes imperative. It is for this reason that effective water governance will be more and more closely linked to integrated water resources management. The specific objectives of this paper are: (i); to contribute to focusing the regional debate on those aspects of water institutions and macroeconomic policies which are particularly critical for Latin American and Caribbean countries; (ii); to promote the formulation of a regional position that genuinely reflects its situation, visions, aspirations and problems; (iii); to promote a critical and balanced analysis of legislation, regulatory frameworks and public policies for water resources management and provision of related public services; and (iv); to make available in English a summary of the water-related research carried out by the Division of Natural Resources and Infrastructure of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC);.