N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 17-0301: Classification of waters and adoption of standards

§ 17-0301. Classification of waters and adoption of standards.

1. It is recognized that, due to variable factors, no single standard

of quality and purity of the waters is applicable to all waters of the

state or to different segments of the same waters.

2. In order to attain the objectives of this article, the department

after proper study, and after conducting public hearing upon due notice,

shall group the designated waters of the state into classes. Such

classification shall be made in accordance with considerations of best

usage in the interest of the public and with regard to the

considerations mentioned in subdivision 3 hereof.

3. In adopting the classification of waters and the standards of

purity and quality above mentioned, the department shall give

consideration to:

a. The size, depth, surface area covered, volume, direction and rate

of flow, stream gradient and temperature of the water;

b. The character of the district bordering said waters and its

peculiar suitability for the particular uses, and with a view to

conserving the value of the same and encouraging the most appropriate

use of lands bordering said waters, for residential, agricultural,

industrial or recreational purposes;

c. The uses which have been made, are being made or may be made, of

said waters for transportation, domestic and industrial consumption,

bathing, fishing and fish culture, fire prevention, the disposal of

sewage, industrial waste and other wastes, or other uses within this

state, and, at the discretion of the department, any such uses in

another state on interstate waters flowing through or originating in

this state;

d. The extent of present defilement or fouling of said waters which

has already occurred or resulted from past discharges therein.

4. The department, after proper study, and after conducting public

hearings upon due notice, shall adopt and assign standards of quality

and purity for each such classification necessary for the public use or

benefit contemplated by such classification. Such standards shall

prescribe what qualities and properties of water shall indicate a

polluted condition of the waters of the state which is actually or

potentially deleterious, harmful, detrimental or injurious to the public

health, safety or welfare, to terrestrial or aquatic life or the growth

and propagation thereof, or to the use of such waters for domestic,

commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational or other reasonable

purposes, with respect to the various classes established pursuant to

subdivision 2 hereof.

5. In establishing such standards, consideration shall be given to the

following factors: a. The extent, if any, to which floating solids may

be permitted in the water;

b. The extent to which suspended solids, colloids or a combination of

solids with other substances suspended in water, may be permitted;

c. Organisms of the coliform group or any other organisms from wastes

of animal or human origin shall not exceed the following prescribed

standards for usage of the classified waters of the state:

(1) Sources of water supply for drinking, culinary or food processing

purposes which, if subjected to approved disinfection treatment, with

additional treatment if necessary to remove naturally present

impurities, meet or will meet New York State Health Department drinking

water standards and any other usages: For such sources the monthly

median coliform value for one hundred ml of sample shall not exceed

fifty from a minimum of five examinations and provided that not more

than twenty percent of the samples shall exceed a coliform value of two

hundred forty for one hundred ml of sample.

(2) Sources of water supply for drinking, culinary or food processing

purposes which, if subjected to approved treatment equal to coagulation,

sedimentation, filtration and disinfection, with additional treatment if

necessary to reduce naturally present impurities, will meet New York

State Department of Health drinking water standards; bathing, fishing,

boating, and any other usages: For such sources the monthly median

coliform value for one hundred ml of sample shall not exceed five

thousand from a minimum of five examinations and provided that not more

than twenty percent of the samples shall exceed a coliform value of

twenty thousand for one hundred ml of sample.

(3) Sources of water for bathing, fishing, boating, and any other

usages except shellfishing for market purposes in tidal salt waters: For

such sources the monthly median coliform value for one hundred ml of

sample shall not exceed two thousand four hundred from a minimum of five

examinations and provided that not more than twenty percent of the

samples shall exceed a coliform value of five thousand for one hundred

ml of sample and provided further that surface waters receiving treated

sewage discharges which pass through residential communities where there

is a potential exposure of population to the surface waters shall be

protected by the requirement that all effluents from sewage treatment

plants shall be adequately disinfected prior to discharge into the

surface waters in order that the monthly median coliform value for one

hundred ml of sample shall not exceed two thousand four hundred from a

minimum of five examinations and provided that not more than twenty

percent of the samples shall exceed a coliform value of five thousand

for one hundred ml of sample.

(4) Sources of water for shellfishing for market purposes and any

other usages of tidal salt waters: Median MPN not to exceed seventy

coliform organisms per one hundred milliliter sample in a series of four

or more samples collected during any thirty-day period in the waters of

a shellfishing area, and not exceeding in more than ten percent of the

samples collected during the period an MPN of two hundred thirty

coliform organisms per one hundred milliliters for a five-tube, or an

MPN of three hundred thirty per one hundred milliliters for a three-tube

decimal dilution test in those areas most probably exposed to fecal

contamination during the most unfavorable hydrographic conditions.

(5) All samples shall be collected, analyzed, and reported in a manner

satisfactory to the commissioner.

(6) When the above prescribed standards are exceeded the commissioner

shall make an investigation to determine the source or sources of

pollution. When it shall appear to the commissioner after investigation,

that there has been a violation of any of the provisions of titles 1 to

11, inclusive, and title 19 of this article he shall take further

proceedings as provided in section 17-0905.

(7) The department may adopt and assign more restrictive standards for

the best usages of the waters of the state.

d. The extent of the oxygen demand which may be permitted in the

receiving waters;

e. Such other physical, chemical or biological properties necessary

for the attainment of the objectives of this article, as set forth in

section 17-0101.

6. The adoption, alteration or modification of the standards of

quality and purity, above prescribed, shall be made by the department

only after public hearing on due notice.

7. The "Rules and Classifications and Standards of Quality and Purity

for Waters of New York State," hitherto adopted by the former New York

water pollution control board by order made and entered October 23, 1950

effective October 25, 1950, as duly amended in the manner provided by

law, are hereby approved and adopted as the general system and plan of

the classification of the waters of the state and the standards of

quality and purity thereof applicable to such general classification of

the waters and are hereby deemed established and adopted by the

department.

8. All classifications and standards of quality and purity hitherto

assigned, by the former New York Water Pollution Control Board, or by

the former Water Resources Commission by order, duly and respectively

made and entered, to designated and specified waters of the state, are

hereby approved and adopted as the classification and standards of

quality and purity for such specified waters so respectively hitherto

classified and are hereby deemed established, adopted and so assigned by

the department.

9. The "Rules and Classifications and Standards of Quality and Purity

for Waters of New York State," so hitherto adopted by the former Water

Pollution Control Board and by the former Water Resources Commission and

hereinabove readopted may from time to time be altered or modified by

the department after public hearing thereon. Any classification of the

specified waters of the state, so hitherto assigned by the former Water

Pollution Control Board or by the former Water Resources Commission and

hereinabove readopted may from time to time be altered or modified by

the department after public hearing thereon.

10. Notices of public hearing for the consideration, adoption,

modification, alteration and/or amendment of the general

classification-standards system or of the classification of waters and

the standards of purity and quality thereof shall:

a. Be published at least twice in a newspaper regularly published or

circulated in the county or counties bordering or through which the

waters sought to be classified, or for which standards are sought to be

adopted, flow, the first date of publication of which shall be at least

thirty days before the date fixed for such hearing, and

b. Be mailed at least thirty days before such hearing to the chief

executive of each municipal corporation bordering or through which said

waters, for which standards are sought to be adopted, flow, and to such

other persons as the department has reason to believe may be affected by

the proposed standards.

11. The fact that an application for the modification or alteration of

classifications and standards of quality and purity has been made

pursuant to this section shall not of itself constitute a sufficient

ground for an injunction against, or a stay of, any proceeding or order

authorized by this article.

12. In all hearings in connection with the modification or alteration

of classifications and standards of quality and purity heretofore

assigned by the former Water Pollution Control Board or the former Water

Resources Commission or hereafter assigned by the department by order,

duly and respectively made and entered, to designated and specified

waters of the state, except as provided in paragraphs a and b of

subdivision 10 of this section, the administrative procedures to be

followed shall be governed by article two of the state administrative

procedure act.

13. The department shall not require the expense of any public hearing

initiated by petition of any person or public corporation in connection

with the adoption, modification or alteration of classification of

waters or standards of purity and quality thereof to be paid by such

person or public corporation.

14. The classification of waters and standards of quality and purity

thereof, upon adoption, shall, before becoming effective, be filed with

the Secretary of State for publication in the "Official Compilation of

Codes, Rules and Regulations of the state of New York" published

pursuant to section 102 of the Executive Law.