N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 6 § 673.2

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 45, November 2, 2024

Section 673.2 - Definitions

(a) Appurtenant works and appurtenant structures means structures built or materials placed and/or maintained, in connection with a dam. They may include, but are not limited to, such structures as spillways, valves, low level outlet works, fish ladders, and conduits.

(b) Auxiliary spillway means a secondary spillway designed to operate only during large floods to pass flows, and is in addition to a service spillway.

(c) Breach of a dam means the permanent lowering of a dam's normal impoundment level or the construction of a channel through or around a dam.

(d) Commissioner means the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation or such individual's duly authorized designee.

(e) Construct means to build, erect, repair, reconstruct, breach or remove. Construction means the building, erection, repair, reconstruction, breach or removal.

(f) Dam means any artificial barrier, including any earthen barrier or other structure, together with its appurtenant works, which impounds or will impound waters. By way of example only, waters may be impounded by directly intercepting drainage over land, by placing a structure in or across a watercourse, or by diverting or pumping waters to an impoundment or reservoir. A lagoon or storage facility, with one or more impoundment structures, that stores waste, or that treats, disposes or contains materials, other than waters, is not a dam.

(g) Dam break analysis is an engineering evaluation used to predict downstream flooding from a dam failure.

(h) Dam safety section means the department's dam safety section in the Division of Water of the department's Albany office (or its successor), or its duly designated designee.

(i) Department means the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

(j) Emergency action plan means a dam owner's written plan of methods and procedures pursuant to section 673.7 of this Part that is implemented in order to detect, identify, mitigate or prevent the causes and consequences of, adverse dam incidents, including failures.

(k) Engineer means an individual who:

(1) is a professional engineer currently licensed and registered to practice engineering under article 145 of the Education Law of the State of New York; and

(2) possesses sufficient specific education, training, and experience necessary to exercise professional judgment in the development of opinions and conclusions regarding, and is otherwise competent in areas related to, the investigation, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a dam of the type, size, and location that is to be addressed, and in areas related to adverse dam incidents, dam failures and the potential causes and consequences of dam failures, sufficient to meet the objectives and performance factors for the areas of practice identified by this Part.

(l) Environmental Conservation Law or ECL means the New York State Environmental Conservation Law.

(m) Hazard classification refers to the damage or hazard that may be posed by the failure of a dam. One of four hazard classifications may be assigned to a dam by the department in accordance with section 673.5 of this Part. The hazard classifications are: class A (low hazard); class B (intermediate hazard); class C (high hazard); and class D (negligible or no hazard).

(n) Height of a dam means the measurement of the vertical dimension from the downstream toe of a dam at its lowest point to the top of the dam.

(o) Inspection and maintenance plan means a written plan of procedures to conduct routine activities involved in the upkeep of a dam, which is prepared in accordance with section 673.6 of this Part.

(p) Inundation area means the area which would likely be flooded as a result of a dam failure. The inundation area may be determined analytically, including through a dam break analysis.

(q) Local public corporation means any municipal corporation or district corporation, as is set forth in ECL article 1, section 0303, subdivision 15 and further defined in the General Construction Law, section 66, subdivisions 2 and 3.

(r) Maximum impoundment capacity means the measurement of volume of waters that are impounded when the water level of the impoundment is at the top of a dam.

(s) NYCRR is an abbreviation for the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York. 6 NYCRR means Title 6 of the NYCRR.

(t) Owner of a dam means any person or local public corporation who owns, erects, constructs, reconstructs, repairs, breaches, removes, maintains, operates, or uses a dam.

(u) Person means any individual, firm, co-partnership, association or corporation, other than the State and a public corporation, as is set forth in ECL article 1, section 0303, subdivision 18.

(v) Public corporation means a "public corporation," as referenced in ECL article 1, section 0303, subdivision 20, and as defined in the General Construction Law, section 66, and includes all public authorities, except the Power Authority of the State of New York.

(w) Removal means eliminating a dam embankment or structure to the approximate original topographic contours.

(x) Waters means "waters" as defined in ECL article 15, section 0107, subdivision 4.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 6 § 673.2