§ 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.