The reduction in the supply of water of good environmental quality has caused signals about the importance of protecting surface and underground water sources. In this sense, the emergence of measures for the command and control of the use of water resources in various parts of the world has forced an important debate, namely: whose responsibility is water governance? In this context, the present work deals with water governance in Brazil, specifically in the São Francisco River basin, and its general objective is to analyze the impact of the application of the National Policy on Water Resources in that basin and its consequent impact on the territory.