§ 15-0103. Legislative findings.

Article 15 shall be construed and administered in the light of the
following findings of fact:

1. The sovereign power to regulate and control the water resources of
this state ever since its establishment has been and now is vested
exclusively in the state of New York, except to the extent of any
delegation of power to the United States;

2. New York State has been generously endowed with water resources
which have contributed and continue to contribute greatly to the
position of preeminence attained by New York in population, agriculture,
commerce, trade, industry and outdoor recreation;

3. Adequate and suitable water for water supply, domestic, municipal,
industrial, agricultural and commercial uses, power, irrigation,
transportation, fire protection, sewage and waste assimilation, the
growth of forests, maintenance of fish and wildlife, recreational
enjoyment and other uses is essential to the health, safety and welfare
of the people and economic growth and prosperity of the state;

4. In recent years our population growth and the development and use
of new technology and processes have resulted in demands for more water
and the equitable use thereof for these purposes;

5. In recent years recreational activities are making new and greater
demands on lakes and streams of the state for boating, fishing, bathing
and water sports, and the lands adjacent thereto for campsites, access
areas and public beaches;

6. The growth of cities and urban areas and their expansion into
formerly rural areas has in many cases resulted in the filling in,
diversion and destruction of water courses, necessarily destroying
aquatic habitat and lessening supplies of water for multiple use
purposes;

7. Increased motorized highway travel and public safety are requiring
the construction of new, better and larger public highways which may
alter the water ways of the state and encroach upon water courses and
affect their uses;

8. All fish, game, wildlife, shellfish, crustacea and protected
insects in the state, except those legally acquired and held in private
ownership, are owned by the state and held for the use and enjoyment of
the people of the state, and the state has a responsibility to preserve,
protect and conserve such terrestrial and aquatic resources from
destruction and damage and to promote their natural propagation;

9. The unreasonable, uncontrolled and unnecessary interference with or
defilement and disturbance of water courses create hazards to the
health, safety and welfare of the people of the state causing great
economic loss by erosion of soil, increased costs of water purification
and treatment, the loss of crop lands and forests by flooding, the
destruction and failure of natural propagation of fish and aquatic
resources and the loss of water for domestic, industrial, navigational,
municipal, agricultural, recreational and other beneficial uses and
purposes;

10. The unreasonable and unregulated (a) interference with the
channels and beds of lakes and streams by construction of dams, roads
and other structures, (b) alteration of water courses and gradients, (c)
impounding of water, (d) dredging and filling in of stream beds, and the
unreasonable removal of sand, gravel or other materials from streams,
and by other action, have resulted in pollution of such waters, increase
in turbidity and the deposit of silt and debris, irregular variations of
velocity, temperature and levels of water, erosion of banks and uplands
and the flooding of valuable lands;

11. The department, and two of its predecessors, the Water Resources
Commission and the Water Pollution Control Board, has classified
substantially all of the waters of the state;

12. The department, pursuant to title 11 of article 15 of the
Environmental Conservation Law, is continuing the work of its
predecessor, the Water Resources Commission in undertaking comprehensive
planning for the protection, conservation and development of the water
resources of the state;

13. It is in the best interest of the state that provision be made for
the regulation and supervision of activities that deplete, defile,
damage or otherwise adversely affect the waters of the state and land
resources associated therewith.