Section 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.