N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 11-0503: Polluting streams prohibited

§ 11-0503. Polluting streams prohibited.

1. No dyestuffs, coal tar, refuse from a gas house, cheese factory,

creamery, condensary or canning factory, sawdust, shavings, tan bark,

lime, acid, oil or other deleterious or poisonous substance shall be

thrown or allowed to run into any waters, either private or public, in

quantities injurious to fish life, protected wildlife or waterfowl

inhabitating those waters or injurious to the propagation of fish,

protected wildlife or waterfowl therein.

2. a. No person shall place sewage or other matter injurious to fish

where it can find its way into water used by any state fish hatchery or

allow others to do so on or through premises owned or occupied by him.

b. No person shall erect or maintain any privy, pigsty, inclosure for

poultry, barn or barnyard, or drain from any building, whence drainage

or refuse may find its way into water used by any state fish hatchery.

Every such privy, pigsty, inclosure, barn, barnyard and drain is hereby

declared to be a public nuisance and may be summarily abated by the

department.

3. Oil, acid, sludge, cinders or ashes from a vessel of any type shall

not be thrown, dumped or allowed by any person to run into the waters of

the Hudson or Mohawk rivers.

4. No earth, soil, refuse or other solid substances, except snow or

ice, shall be disposed of in any stream or tributary thereto which is

inhabited by trout; nor shall any earth, soil, refuse or other solid

substance, except snow or ice, be disposed of on the banks of trout

streams or tributaries thereto in such a manner that such solid

substance can enter the stream at any stage of water level. Dumps and

disposal areas for refuse along the banks of trout streams, or

tributaries thereto, shall be operated by the owner or lessee of such an

area in such manner that the solid substances deposited thereon shall

not enter the stream at any stage of water level.

5. This section does not prohibit the control or elimination of

aquatic vegetation, insects and aquatic animals, authorized by the

department in order to effectuate the provisions of paragraph a of

subdivision 2 of section 11-1911 and subdivision 8 of section 11-1913 of

the Fish and Wildlife Law.

6. Nothing contained in this section shall prohibit the enactment by

the appropriate governing or legislative body of any county, city, town

or village of local laws, not inconsistent with this chapter,

prohibiting the disposal of earth, soil, refuse, or other solid

substance, in streams, ponds or lakes within its jurisdiction.