It is emphasized that, despite social changes in the world, general processes and the importance of restoration, protection and conservation of the natural environment, there are acute problems of rational and effective use of natural resources and complexes in Ukraine. This does not fully correspond to the commonly recognized concept of the need to consider the interests of future generations and meet the contemporary needs of humanity. Based on this, it has been proven that there is an urgent need to provide the introduction of rational and effective use of natural resources and complexes, as well as to restore and preserve the latter, in order to correct the current situation, guarantee the realization of the environmental rights of every citizen of our country and the right to use natural resources in particular.
 An analysis of the norms of the current domestic legislation, in particular, water and land legislation, whose prescriptions regulate relations with the use of natural objects, including water ones, was carried out. It is argued that one of the priority steps now should be the development of a special legal mechanism, for example, by spreading the practice of using objects under a lease contract. Based on the modern trends in the functioning and development of environmental law and its leading sub-branches - water and land, it is proved that when studying the contract for the lease of water (water objects), namely its legal nature, it is of great interest to clearly establish as its object, as well as essential features of the latter.
 The ecological state of water objects on the territory of our country is characterized. It was found out that the main reason for the clear separation and legislative consolidation of the types of intended use when renting the mentioned objects is their functional purpose, since the components of the water ecosystem are interdependent and interconnected. It is proposed to bring in accordance with the provisions of the Water Code of Ukraine art. 59 of the Land Code of Ukraine, making changes to the list of types of targeted rental use. Proposals for improving the environmental (in particular, water and land) legislation of Ukraine regarding the legal basis of the water lease contract are substantiated.