Water resources management has become a prominent issue in Brazil’s regional political agendas but understanding the limits of its practices and policy choices is yet to be achieved. This article presents an analysis of environmental management in the state of Minas Gerais during 1995-2014, a period characterized by a neoliberal political and economic approach. It seeks to identify possible trends, limitations, and possibilities for institutional and administrative development in this area. The research included a revision of documents dealing with the insertion of public policies in the institutional agendas linked directly or indirectly with the management of water resources. These documents cover legal, legislative, and executive aspects of State performance in this sector, as well as information related to the models of environmental management implemented in the State of Minas Gerais, during the period of study. The conclusions suggest that the practices of water resources management in the State were greatly influenced by neoliberal prescriptions, whether by the increase in the institutional public deficit of the environmental sector or by the contextual and political difficulties facing the implementation of long-term integrated management of water resources.