2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 17 - Water Pollution Control › Title 3 - Jurisdiction of the Department; Authority; Powers and Duties › 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.