New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION › Chapter V - RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SERVICES › Subchapter E - WATER REGULATION › Part 608 - USE AND PROTECTION OF WATERS › Section 608.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) Banks means
				  that land area immediately adjacent to, and which slopes toward, the bed of a
				  watercourse, and which is necessary to maintain the integrity of a watercourse.
				  For purposes of this Part, a bank will not be considered to extend more than 50
				  feet horizontally from the mean highwater line; with the following exception:
				  where a generally uniform slope of 45 degrees (100 percent) or greater adjoins
				  the bed of the watercourse, the band is extended to the crest of the slope or
				  the first definable break in slope, either a natural or constructed (i.e. road
				  or railroad grade) feature, lying generally parallel to the
				  watercourse.
(b) Bed means that
				  land area of a watercourse covered by water at mean high water.
(c) Breach of a dam shall have the meaning
				  set forth in Part 673 of this Title.
(d) Commissioner means the Commissioner of
				  Environmental Conservation or a duly authorized designee.
(e) Construct means to build. With respect to
				  a dam, construct shall have the meaning set forth in Part 673 of this
				  Title.
(f) Dam shall have the
				  meaning set forth in Part 673 of this Title.
(g) Department means the Department of
				  Environmental Conservation.
(h)
				  Docking facility means any marina, boat basin, marine terminal, and any other
				  areas on navigable waters containing a single structure or a collection of
				  related structures, such as docks, piers, platforms, bulkheads, breakwaters,
				  and pilings, used for the reception, securing, and protection of boats, ships,
				  barges or other water craft.
(i)
				  Emergency Action Plan shall have the meaning set forth in Part 673 of this
				  Title.
(j) Engineer, with respect
				  to the requirements of this Part that are applicable to dams, shall have the
				  meaning set forth in Part 673 of this Title.
(k) Environmental Conservation Law or ECL
				  means the New York State Environmental Conservation Law.
(l) Erect, as used in ECL article 15 section
				  0503, with respect to a dam, means to construct a new dam.
(m) Fill means any solid or semi-solid,
				  organic or inorganic material including. but not limited to, earth, clay, silt,
				  sand, gravel, stone, rock, shale, concrete, ashes, cinder, slag, metal, stumps,
				  solid waste as defined in Part 360 of this Title, or any other similar
				  material, whether or not enclosed or contained by a structure.
(n) Height, with respect to a dam, is the
				  vertical dimension from the downstream toe of a dam at its lowest point to the
				  top of a dam.
(o) Indirect
				  placement of fill means positioning material landward and in close proximity to
				  the mean high water elevation of a waterbody such that the material is
				  introduced into the waterbody by natural erosive forces thereby creating a fill
				  below the mean high water elevation.
(p) Local public corporation means any
				  municipal corporation or district corporation, as is set forth in ECL article 1
				  section 0303 subdivision 15, and further defined in the General Construction
				  Law section 66 subdivisions 2 and 3.
(q) Maximum impoundment capacity is the
				  volume of water that is impounded when the water level is at the top of a
				  dam.
(r) Mean low water or mean
				  high water means, respectively, the approximate average low water level or high
				  water level for a given body of water at a given location, that distinguishes
				  between predominantly aquatic and predominantly terrestrial habitat as
				  determined, in order of use by the following:
(1) available hydrologic data, calculations,
				  and other relevant information concerning water levels (e.g., discharge,
				  storage, tidal, and other recurrent water elevation data); (mean high water
				  elevations are established, using this method, for certain waterbodies as
				  presented in section
				  608.11 
				  of this Part);
(2) vegetative
				  characteristics (e.g., location, presence, absence or destruction of
				  terrestrial or aquatic vegetation);
(3) physical characteristics (e.g., clear
				  natural line impressed on a bank, scouring, shelving, or the presence of
				  sediments, litter or debris); and
(4) other appropriate means that consider the
				  characteristics of the surrounding area.