Terms Used In New York Laws > Environmental Conservation > Article 15 > Title 15 - Water Supply

• Agricultural purpose: shall mean the practice of farming for crops, plants, vines and trees, and the keeping, grazing, or feeding of livestock for sale of livestock or livestock products, and the on-farm processing of crops, livestock and livestock products. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Coastal communities: shall mean those areas on Long Island where the Magothy aquifer is either absent or contaminated with chlorides. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Compact basin commission: shall mean an interstate commission having jurisdiction with respect to the regulation of water resources within a basin in the state, created by interstate compact or federal-interstate compact, including but not limited to, the Susquehanna river basin commission and the Delaware river basin commission. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Enforcement officer: shall mean any person authorized to enforce the provisions of this title or the building code in the municipality in which the water well drilling activities are taking place. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Environmentally sound and economically feasible water conservation measures: shall mean those measures, methods, technologies or practices for efficient water use and for reduction of water loss and waste or for reducing a withdrawal, consumptive use or diversion that: (i) are environmentally sound; (ii) reflect best practices applicable to the water use sector; (iii) are technically feasible and available; (iv) are economically feasible and cost effective based on an analysis that considers direct and avoided economic and environmental costs; and (v) consider the particular facilities and processes involved, taking into account the environmental impact, age of equipment and facilities involved, the processes employed, energy impacts and other appropriate factors. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Interbasin diversion: shall mean the transfer of water or wastewater from one New York major drainage basin to another drainage basin. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lloyd Sands: shall mean that geological strata generally known to be the deepest and oldest water-bearing layer of the Long Island aquifer system and shall not include bedrock. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• municipal corporation: includes a county, city, town and village. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-0107
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: shall mean any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, department or bureau of the state, municipality, industry, co-partnership, association, firm, trust, estate or any other legal entity whatsoever. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Potable water: shall mean water intended for human consumption that meets the requirements for a public water system as set forth in the state sanitary code. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Public water supply system: shall mean a permanently installed water withdrawal system including its source, collection, pumping, treatment, transmission, storage and distribution facilities used in connection with such system, which provides piped potable water to the public for potable purposes, if such system has at least five service connections used by year-round residents. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Threshold volume: shall mean the withdrawal of water of a volume of one hundred thousand gallons or more per day, determined by the limiting maximum capacity of the water withdrawal, treatment, or conveyance system; provided that for agricultural purposes the threshold volume shall mean a withdrawal of water of a volume in excess of an average of one hundred thousand gallons per day in any consecutive thirty-day period. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Water well: shall mean any groundwater excavation for the purpose of obtaining water. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Water well driller: shall mean a person who, for compensation or as part of property development and sale, engages in water well drilling activities; provided, however, that, for the purposes of this subdivision, the term "person" shall not include a public corporation, political subdivision, government agency, department, or bureau of the state or a municipality. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• water well drilling activities: shall mean the construction and reconstruction of water wells, the establishment or repair of a connection through the well casing and the repair of water wells including repairs which require the opening of the well casing. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Water withdrawal system: shall mean any equipment or infrastructure operated or maintained for the provision or withdrawal of water including, but not limited to, collection, pumping, treatment, transportation, transmission, storage, and distribution. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502
• Waters: shall be construed to include lakes, bays, sounds, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Atlantic ocean within the territorial limits of the state of New York, and all other bodies of surface or underground water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, public or private, which are wholly or partially within or bordering the state or within its jurisdiction. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-0107
• withdrawal of water: shall mean the removal or taking of water for any purpose from the waters of the state. See N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law 15-1502