[1] In the Middle Ages, the lagoon was administered by the curia publicorum, commonly known as the Poviego, established in 1282 by merging previous boards charged with the maintenance of the city's canals.

[5] The savi were an executive council, followed in 1505 by the much larger collegio delle acque ('college of the waters'), which took over decision-making on hydraulical matters from the Ten and the Senate.

To provide expert assistance, the magistracy employed a number of professional personnel, including secretarial staff and hydraulic technicians.

[2] In addition, in a semi-ritualized practice, the collegio delle acque employed the advice of eight experienced fishermen nominated from the fishing guilds of the Lagoon's main settlements.

[1] The importance of the Lagoon for Venice also meant that the magistrato alle acque enjoyed a higher authority and priority than other competing agencies, most notably the provveditori sopra beni inculti, founded in 1556 to promote the cultivation of lands in Venice's mainland possessions in the Veneto: on issues related to the management of the rivers feeding the Lagoon, the Magistrato alle acque invariably had the final say, leading to aborted requests for irrigation, or canalization of the Sile, Brenta, and Piave rivers in ways that ensured the uninterrupted supply of the Lagoon, but exposed their surroundings to frequent flooding.

[8][9] The original magistrato alle acque disappeared with the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, but in 1907, the magistracy was re-established by the Italian state as a public institution.