A.7266-B (Sweeney, et al.)

S.4324-B (Maziarz, et al.)

Summary

This legislation would ratify New York’s participation in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (Compact), a multi-state agreement on the management of Great Lakes water that creates a system for cooperatively managing water withdrawals and water use within the Basin. The Compact will protect water levels in the Great Lakes and their tributaries, require New York to establish water conservation measures, prohibit the transfer of Great Lakes water outside of the Basin, and protect New York’s right to set stronger standards.

Explanation

At least three million New Yorkers rely on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence drainage basins for their water. In addition, a significant portion of the state’s electricity comes from the two hydropower plants—the Niagara and the FDR facility on the St. Lawrence River. Water levels throughout the Lakes are already at their lowest levels in decades, and if levels in Lakes Erie or Ontario plummet further due to unsustainable withdrawals, New Yorkers and our economy will suffer.   

The Compact would give New York the ability to cooperatively manage water withdrawals with the other Great Lakes states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania). Of these eight states, New York is second only to Michigan in terms of miles of coastline within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence drainage basin. 

Minnesota and Illinois ratified the Compact in 2007. Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Pennsylvania are taking up the measure this year. Once ratified by all eight states, the Compact would set up a baseline of fair and consistent rules giving New York the ability to jointly manage water withdrawals within the Basin, particularly those in excess of five million gallons per day. It would also put in place an accounting system for withdrawals, return flows, and consumptive uses for all the states, allowing for improved management decisions. 

As the state at the bottom of the watershed with more than 700 miles of shoreline and 40 percent of New York's lands within the drainage basins of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and the St. Lawrence River, New York has the most to gain or lose by management decisions made upstream. States working collaboratively to make fair and responsible water use decisions should protect our drinking water, maintain water for industrial and commercial purposes, and ensure that power generated by the Niagara and St. Lawrence-FDR hydropower projects continues to benefit New Yorkers.

Environmental Advocates of New York strongly supports this bill.