New York Laws
Title 21 - River Regulation by Storage Reservoirs
15-2101 - Definitions and Construction.

The following words and phrases when used in title 21 are defined as
follows:

1. "Real estate," when used without words of limitation, includes all
uplands, lands under water, the waters of any lake, pond or stream, all
water and riparian rights or privileges, all water powers, water plants,
and all dams, races, sluiceways and machinery connected therewith, and
any and all easements and incorporeal hereditaments, and every estate,
interest and right, legal or equitable, in land or water, including
terms for years, and liens, legal or equitable, on real estate, as above
defined, in way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise, and all real estate
as above defined acquired or used for railroad, highway, or other public
purposes.

2. "Regulating reservoir" means a basin for impounding water, formed
or enlarged by a dam, constructed or maintained for the purpose of
regulating the flow of a stream or river and shall be construed to
include the dams and dikes or other structures by means of which the
water is or is to be impounded, the gate houses, including controlling
gates, sluices, screens, racks and other accessories thereto; spillways,
fishways, log or ice chutes, or barriers and all accessories thereto;
all bridges or roadways over or appurtenant to the dams and dikes; all
other structures, devices, or appliances connected with or appurtenant
to any of the structures hereinbefore enumerated, in such manner that
they cannot be removed without injury to such structures or without
impairing the usefulness thereof for the purposes for which they are
intended; the lands under the water impounded, or to be impounded, by
the dam or dams, and such lands surrounding or adjacent to the dam, or
the water impounded or to be impounded thereby, and such other real
estate and appliances, including roadways and telephone lines, as shall
be necessary for the purposes of the construction, maintenance, or
operation of a regulating reservoir, as above defined, also including
such land surrounding such reservoir as may be necessary to preserve and
protect such reservoir from unsanitary conditions, and from any
encroachment affecting its use for the purpose of regulating the flow of
the stream or river for the regulation of which it may be constructed.
Such term is not intended to include a reservoir created by a dam
constructed or maintained for power purposes, but is intended to include
a reservoir at or by reason of which there may be, as an incident to the
construction, maintenance and operation of such regulating reservoir,
the possibility of the utilization of a portion of the water stored
thereby for power purposes, without in any way interfering with the
primary purpose of a reservoir constructed under the provisions of title
21 of this article.

3. "Benefit or benefits" shall be interpreted to include benefits to
real estate, public or private, to municipal water supply, to
navigation, to agriculture and to industrial and general welfare by
reason of the maintenance and operation of a regulating reservoir,
whether such benefit shall inure to a person, a public corporation or
the state. In the event that any regulating reservoir operates to
relieve the state of any obligation by reason of diversion of the water
of any river for canal purposes, the state, to the extent that the
maintenance and operation of such reservoir may accomplish such relief,
shall be deemed to have received benefit therefrom.

4. "Board" shall mean the river regulating board of a district.

5. "Preliminary expenses" shall be construed to mean expenditures made
or incurred by the state on account of the services or expenses of its
officers or employees in making studies, investigations, surveys, plans,
specifications and estimates; in negotiating, drafting, and letting

contracts; in supervising and directing the construction of works and
structures, as authorized or required by title 21 of this article; and
the expenses of procuring searches, or abstracts of title of real estate
for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of title 21 of this
article.

6. "Regulation" means only such regulation as can be had through the
construction, maintenance and operation of regulating reservoirs,
excepting as otherwise expressly provided in title 21 of this article.

7. "Average flow" means that result in terms of cubic feet of water
per second derived by the division of the total number of cubic feet of
water flowed by any stream or river, at the location thereon where the
measurement is taken, in one year, or for an average of years, by the
number of seconds in a year.

8. "Average normal flow" means that result in terms of cubic feet of
water per second derived by the division of the total number of cubic
feet of water flowed by any stream or river, at the location thereon
where the measurement thereof is taken, on those days in a year during
which such flow did not exceed the average flow, by the number of
seconds in the total number of such days.

9. "Cost of construction" shall be construed to include in addition to
the cost of a regulating reservoir, all preliminary expenses, all
expenses of organization of the district, engineering fees, costs of
surveys, plans, advertising, salaries, compensation and expenses of the
board, together with all legal and other expenses, incidental to the
construction of such reservoirs up to time of the completion thereof.

10. "Cost of maintenance and operation" shall be construed to include
all such expenses for repairs and upkeep of the regulating reservoir,
all such expenses necessary to the proper operation of such reservoir
for the purposes for which it was constructed and all such part of the
compensation and expenses of the board, its officers and employees after
the completion of such regulating reservoir as are in the judgment of
the board and the department properly chargeable thereto.

11. "High flow line" means the line which will be made around a
reservoir by the water therein when it is at the level of the crest of
the reservoir spillway.

12. "Low flow line" means the line made by the water of a reservoir
when it is at the lowest level which, consistent with the regulation of
the flow of the river and the maintenance of sanitary conditions, the
board with the approval of the department shall fix and determine.

13. "Unsanitary condition or conditions" means such condition or
conditions as are a menace to the public health.

14. The general provisions and definitions appearing in section
15-1903 shall, where appropriate, be applicable to the functions and
duties of the department or board, as the case may be, under title 21.