Enacts the drinking water protection act, relating to the adoption and enforcement of watershed rules and regulations for the purpose of protecting water quality.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9069
SPONSOR: Kelles TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the
drinking water protection act
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA:
To strengthen protections for public drinking water supplies by modern-
izing the framework for watershed rules and regulations, ensuring timely
updates, and equipping the Department of Health and water suppliers with
clearer tools for prevention, enforcement, and accountability.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sec. 1- short title: "drinking water protection act";
Sec. 2 - authorizes drinking water suppliers to draft watershed rules
and regulations, subject to Department of Health approval after notice
and hearing; permits rules to address a broad range of water protection
measures; requires the Department to provide guidance and model poli-
cies; requires at least one public hearing prior to adopting a watershed
rule; mandates regular review and updating of watershed rules; estab-
lishes enforcement authority and penalties; provides standing to compel
agency action; requires annual reporting by the Department to the Gover-
nor and Legislature;
Sec. 3 - severability;
Sec. 4 - effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The health of New York's communities depends on safe, clean drinking
water. Yet the legal framework meant to protect that water has not kept
pace with the realities we face today. Watershed rules and regulations,
the backbone of source-water protection, were designed for an earlier
era. Many remain untouched for decades, written before PFAS, microplas-
tics, pharmaceuticals, and cyanotoxins were recognized as threats. They
rarely account for the impacts of a changing climate, which is bringing
heavier storms, more runoff, and greater strain on septic and wastewater
systems.
This leaves public health exposed. Across the state, suppliers and muni-
cipalities are forced to respond to contamination reactively, after
residents are already at risk. Communities lack consistent tools for
prevention. Some water systems have strong, modern watershed rules;
others are still governed by provisions written for a very different
time. The result is uneven protection for millions of New Yorkers.
This bill updates this framework to reflect the challenges of the pres-
ent. It gives suppliers the clear ability to work cooperatively with
local stakeholders and the Department of Health to adopt locally
tailored watershed rules. It requires the Department to provide guid-
ance, model policies, and periodic reviews so that protections do not
become stagnant. By giving communities and suppliers the ability to keep
contaminants out of the water in the first place, the Act improves
protection of public health and reduces water treatment costs.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
new bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
to be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
one year after becoming law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9069
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
September 5, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the
drinking water protection act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "drinking water protection act".
3 § 2. The section heading of section 1100 of the public health law is
4 amended and a new subdivision 6 is added to read as follows:
5 [Rules] Watershed rules and regulations [of the department]; adoption
6 and enforcement.
7 6. (a) A supplier may draft watershed rules and regulations. After
8 notice and hearing the department of health may approve, modify, or
9 promulgate such rules, which shall have the force of law when filed with
10 the department and published as required.
11 (b) As used in this subdivision, the following terms shall have the
12 following meanings:
13 (i) "Watershed" means all land that drains to a drinking water source
14 used by a supplier.
15 (ii) "Watershed rule and regulation" means a locally applicable enact-
16 ment adopted or approved under this section that governs land use,
17 activities, or discharges within the drainage area of a public drinking
18 water source for the purpose of preventing contamination or otherwise
19 protecting water quality.
20 (iii) "Emerging contaminant" means, but shall not be limited to, per-
21 and polyfluoroalkyl substances, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and
22 cyanotoxins.
23 (iv) "Supplier" means a city, village, authority, water district,
24 jointly owned water-works, or any municipality or water-works corpo-
25 ration supplying potable water.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13558-05-5
A. 9069 2
1 (c) A watershed rule and regulation may, at the discretion of the
2 supplier and subject to approval by the department, address any matter
3 reasonably related to protection of a public drinking water source,
4 including but not limited to:
5 (i) delineation of intake or wellhead protection areas and activity
6 restrictions therein;
7 (ii) reasonable standards for residential activities within the
8 watershed, including limitations on fertilizer application and
9 inspection, maintenance, repair or replacement of on-site wastewater
10 treatment systems, where such activities occur within two hundred feet
11 of a surface water body, watercourse, or wetland draining to a public
12 drinking water intake or wellhead. Such standards may establish accepta-
13 ble nutrient application rates, seasonal restrictions, and best manage-
14 ment practices consistent with state guidance, and may require periodic
15 inspection and pump-out of septic systems at intervals not to exceed
16 five years;
17 (iii) management of nutrients, livestock access, and manure or ferti-
18 lizer application to prevent impairments of public drinking water;
19 (iv) storm water, erosion control and post-construction run-off stand-
20 ards consistent with state pollutant discharge elimination system
21 permits;
22 (v) storage, handling or application of petroleum products, chloride
23 salts, hazardous substances or emerging contaminants;
24 (vi) inspection, permitting and enforcement mechanisms, including
25 record keeping, entry onto property at reasonable times, notices of
26 violation, compliance schedules, stop-work orders and civil or adminis-
27 trative penalties; and
28 (vii) public education, best management practice programs and any
29 other measures reasonably related to preventing contamination of a
30 public drinking water supply.
31 (d) Within one year after the effective date of this subdivision the
32 department shall:
33 (i) issue an updated procedural manual describing the steps for draft-
34 ing, reviewing and adopting watershed rules and regulations; and
35 (ii) publish on its website a model for the adoption of watershed
36 rules and regulations, including sample policies and a process for
37 engaging related stakeholders.
38 (e) (i) Any supplier whose existing watershed rules and regulations
39 have not been updated since two thousand seventeen shall update their
40 watershed rules and regulations no later than five years after this
41 subdivision shall have taken effect or shall submit certification to the
42 department that no such update is needed.
43 (ii) The department shall approve, modify or disapprove a draft within
44 twelve months of receipt. The department's failure to act within that
45 period constitutes approval.
46 (iii) If the department disapproves a draft, it shall state the
47 required changes with specificity and shall act on a resubmission within
48 six months.
49 (f) The department shall review each watershed rule and regulation at
50 least once every ten years to determine whether revisions are needed
51 considering new contaminants, climate impacts or advances in water qual-
52 ity science.
53 (g) Before approving or adopting a watershed rule or regulation the
54 department shall consult with the supplier, affected municipalities,
55 soil and water conservation districts, agricultural organizations and
A. 9069 3
1 watershed advocacy groups and shall hold at least one public hearing
2 within the watershed.
3 (h) The department, any supplier with an adopted watershed rule or
4 regulation, or their authorized designee, may, at reasonable times and
5 upon prior notice of at least twenty-four hours when practicable, enter
6 non-residential property within the watershed for the limited purpose of
7 inspecting for compliance with applicable watershed rules and regu-
8 lations. Entry shall be limited to areas reasonably related to the
9 inspection purposes and shall not include access to dwellings or curti-
10 lage. Any designee shall be acting under the direct oversight of the
11 department or supplier and shall be qualified to conduct such
12 inspections.
13 (i) (i) The department or the attorney general may bring a civil
14 action seeking a penalty of up to five hundred dollars for each day of
15 violation of a watershed rule or regulation.
16 (ii) A watershed rule or regulation may authorize the supplier to
17 assess and collect civil penalties for violations, provided that any
18 such penalty shall not exceed five hundred dollars a day and shall be
19 recoverable either in a civil action or through an administrative proc-
20 ess established in the watershed rule or regulation.
21 (j) The supplier or suppliers or any municipality within the watershed
22 has standing to seek judicial relief to compel the department to perform
23 any non-discretionary duty imposed by this subdivision.
24 (k) The department shall submit an annual report to the governor, the
25 temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, and the
26 minority leaders of the senate and assembly that lists watershed rule
27 and regulation adoptions or revisions completed during the prior year
28 and summarizes enforcement actions and water quality trends.
29 (l) The department may adopt regulations necessary to implement and
30 enforce this subdivision.
31 § 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
32 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
33 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
34 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
35 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section
36 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
37 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
38 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such
39 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
40 § 4. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
41 law.
