Section 15-1603. Definitions

When  used  in  this title unless otherwise expressly stated or unless
  the context or subject matter otherwise requires:
    1. "Authorized base level of water loss" means the maximum consecutive
  thirty day average water  loss  resulting  from  a  consumptive  use  or
  interbasin diversion.
    2.  "Consumptive  use" means a use of Great Lakes water, other than an
  interbasin diversion, that results in a failure to return any or all  of
  the water to the Great Lakes basin. Consumptive use includes, but is not
  limited  to,  evaporation,  except  for the evaporative losses resulting
  from reservoirs used to impound water for hydroelectric generation,  and
  incorporation of water into a product or agricultural crop.
    3. "Department" means the department of environmental conservation.
    4.  "Great  Lakes  water"  means the water contained in the watershed,
  including the lakes and rivers, of the Great Lakes basin.
    5. "Great Lakes basin" means the watershed of the Great Lakes and  the
  St.  Lawrence River, upstream from Trois Rivieres, Quebec, consisting in
  New York state of  the  Lake  Erie-Niagara  River,  Lake  Ontario  minor
  tributaries, Genesee River, Seneca-Oneida-Oswego River, Black River, St.
  Lawrence River and Lake Champlain drainage basins.
    6.   "Great   Lakes  charter"  means  the  document  establishing  the
  principles for the cooperative  management  of  the  Great  Lakes  water
  resources,  signed  by  the  governors  and  premiers of the Great Lakes
  region on February eleventh, nineteen hundred eighty-five.
    7. "Great Lakes region" means the geographic region  composed  of  the
  states  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and
  Wisconsin, the  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  provinces  of
  Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
    8. "Interbasin diversion" means a transfer of Great Lakes water to any
  other basin.
    9.  "International  joint commission" means the commission established
  by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909  between  the  United  States  and
  Canada.
    10.  "Person"  means  any  individual,  partnership, public or private
  corporation,   special   purpose   district,   municipality,   industry,
  association,  organization,  firm,  trust,  or  estate; or any political
  subdivision, government agency, department or bureau of the state, or of
  other states or provinces, or of the federal government;  or  any  other
  legal entity whatsoever.
    11. "Water loss" means a loss of water from the Great Lakes basin as a
  result of interbasin diversion or consumptive use or both.
    12.  "Withdrawal"  means  any removal of water from its source for any
  purpose, other than for hydroelectric  generation  at  sites  certified,
  licensed or permitted by the federal energy regulatory commission.