2023 New York Laws › PBH - Public Health › Article 11 - Public Water Supplies; Sewerage and Sewage Control › Title 2-A - Water Supply Emergency Plans › 1125 - Water Supply Emergency Plans.

§  1125. Water supply emergency plans. 1. Definitions. As used in this
title:
(a) "Water supply emergency plan"  shall  mean  a  plan  reviewed  and
approved  by  the  commissioner  and filed with the department. The plan
shall follow a form which shall be specified by the department and which
shall include, but not be limited to, those  items  enumerated  in  this
section, and shall address those actions to be taken by a water supplier
to   anticipate   emergencies   and  respond  responsibly  to  emergency
situations. The department shall maintain a list of all water  suppliers
required  to  submit  a  water  supply  emergency  plan pursuant to this
section.
(b) "Water supplier" shall mean any person  who  owns  or  operates  a
community  water  system that supplies drinking water to more than three
thousand three hundred people.
2. All water suppliers shall prepare a water  supply  emergency  plan;
provided,  however,  if  more than one water supplier is responsible for
the same system, such plan shall be submitted jointly  by  such  two  or
more  water  suppliers.  The  plan  shall identify and outline the steps
necessary to ensure that potable  water  is  available  during  a  water
supply emergency. The water supply emergency plan shall include, but not
be limited to, the following:
(a)  establishment  of  criteria  and procedures to determine critical
water levels or safe yield of system,
(b) identification of existing  and  future  sources  of  water  under
normal conditions and emergency conditions,
(c)  system  capacity  and  ability to meet peak demand and fire flows
concurrently,
(d) storage capacities,
(e) current condition of present interconnections  and  identification
of additional interconnections to meet a water supply emergency,
(f)  specific  action  plan  to  be  followed  during  a  water supply
emergency including a phased implementation of the plan,
(g) general  water  conservation  programs  and  water  use  reduction
strategies for water supply emergencies,
(h) prioritization of water users,
(i)  identification  and  availability  of  emergency equipment needed
during a water supply emergency,
(j)  public  notification  program   coordinated   with   the   phased
implementation schedule, and
(k)  a  vulnerability  analysis  assessment,  including an analysis of
vulnerability to terrorist attack and cyber attack, which shall be  made
after consultation with local and state law enforcement agencies.
3.  All  water  suppliers  shall, prior to the final submission of the
water supply emergency plan, publish a notice in a newspaper of  general
circulation  in  the  area  served by the community water system stating
that the proposed water emergency  plan  is  available  for  review  and
comment;  provided,  however,  a water supplier shall exempt from public
disclosure for public review and comment any information  it  determines
to  pose  a  security risk to operation of the water supply system. Such
notice shall be printed at least once in each of  two  successive  weeks
and the water supplier shall accept public comment for at least fourteen
days  following  the  date  of the first publication. The water supplier
shall submit all public comments with the water emergency  plan  to  the
department.
4. Water supply emergency plans shall be submitted to the commissioner
on  or  before December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety. All water
suppliers who have previously submitted  emergency  water  supply  plans
which  were  approved by the commissioner prior to the effective date of

this title are exempt from  the  provisions  of  this  subdivision.  The
commissioner shall retain a copy of each water supply emergency plan.
5.  Every  water  supplier  shall review, and if necessary, revise its
water supply emergency plan and report its findings to the  commissioner
by  December  thirty-first,  nineteen  hundred  ninety-five.  Any  water
supplier whose water supply emergency plan does not include an  analysis
of  vulnerability  to  terrorist attack and cyber attack, shall initiate
such an analysis by June first, two thousand seventeen, and shall revise
its emergency plan and  report  its  findings  to  the  commissioner  by
January  first,  two  thousand eighteen. Every water supplier shall keep
its water supply emergency  plan  up  to  date,  shall  provide  updated
communication  and  notification  information  to  the  commissioner  by
December thirty-first of every year, and shall submit its  water  supply
emergency  plan  to the commissioner for review at least once every five
years and within thirty days after major water  facility  infrastructure
changes  have  been  made.  The  commissioner  shall  make available for
review,  following  established  security  protocols,  a  copy  of  each
vulnerability   analysis   assessment  from  a  water  supplier  to  the
superintendent of state police, commissioner of the division of homeland
security and emergency services, and chief technology officer.
6. (a) The commissioner or a  county  health  department  may  provide
guidance  and  assistance  to  community  water  systems  on  conducting
vulnerability assessments, preparing water supply  emergency  plans  and
addressing  threats  from  terrorist  attacks,  including cyber attacks,
designed  to  disrupt  the  provision  of   safe   drinking   water   or
significantly  affect  the  public  health,  or significantly affect the
safety  or  supply  of  drinking  water  provided  to   communities   or
individuals.
(b)  A community water system, that is not a water supplier, may elect
to complete a water supply emergency plan. Such community  water  system
may elect to submit the plan to the commissioner for approval. In such a
case,  the  commissioner shall subject the plan to such approval process
as described in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section.
7. The commissioner, in his discretion, may provide an opportunity for
public hearing for persons served by a community water system.
8. The commissioner shall make such rules and regulations which may be
necessary to effectuate the purposes of this title.
9. The commissioner, superintendent of state police,  commissioner  of
the  division  of  homeland  security  and emergency services, and chief
technology  officer  shall  keep  confidential:  (a)  all  vulnerability
analysis  assessments and all information derived therefrom; and (b) all
information determined by a water supplier to pose a  security  risk  to
the operation of a water supply system. Such assessments and information
shall be exempt from disclosure under article six of the public officers
law.  A person who, without authorization, discloses any such assessment
or information to another person who has not been authorized to  receive
such assessment or information is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.