15-1603 - Definitions. - New York Statutes

§ 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.