Watershed Management

Watershed Approach

The Division of Water (DOW) uses a watershed management approach to guide its programs – a watershed approach to planning and management is an important part of water protection and restoration efforts.

A watershed approach:

• is defined hydrologically instead of politically
• acknowledges that everyone's actions in a watershed effect others
• realizes that upstream conditions affect downstream water quality
• creates more effective solutions because whole watersheds and many stakeholders are included

DEC’s Division of Water (DOW) has several watershed management programs to protect and improve water quality throughout the watersheds of New York State. These programs are implemented to address specific water quality issues within a watershed, ranging from pollution to climate change effects like increased water temperatures, flooding, and coastal erosion. A co-benefit of these plans and programs can be the promotion of equity, inclusion, and clean water for disadvantaged communities that disproportionately experience climate injustice and are protected under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

Watershed Management

To ensure that water protection and restoration activities are successful, the DOW implements a five-step cycle called “watershed management,” shown on what is commonly referred to as the “water wheel.”

• Monitoring - The Division of Water gathers information on the health of the state's waterbodies by monitoring and sampling.
• Assessment - The Division of Water assesses water quality in all waterbodies in New York.
• Planning and Management - The Division of Water develops water quality protection and restoration plans for many waterbodies and watersheds in New York.
• Implementation and Permitting - The SPDES permit program is the primary way the Division of Water implements its water protection and restoration activities.
• Compliance and Enforcement - The Division of Water uses a variety of processes to ensure that permit requirements are met.

Using the watershed management approach and 5 step cycle, the DOW team manages NYS’ watersheds through programs that plan and manage activities to protect and restore water quality. These watershed plans and programs include clean water plans, partnerships, commissions, local actions and plans, reports, and projects. These efforts vary in scope, with some programs encompassing entire or multiple drainage basins while other programs are more locally focused on one smaller waterbody. For example, the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay Programs expand across more than one drainage basin because of their interconnected nature, whereas the Lake Champlain Watershed Program focuses on only one.

Below are the watershed programs that are funded or staffed by DEC, or that partner with DEC to achieve objectives within a DEC Clean Water Plan or DEC accepted Action Agenda.

Watershed Commissions

The NYS DEC is active in multiple interstate and international compacts dedicated to water resource management, known as Watershed Commissions. These multistate commissions are congressionally approved and focus on advancing collective water resource initiatives including conservation and restoration. Currently, New York State has joined the following interstate compacts:

• Susquehanna River Basin Commission - Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania
• Delaware River Basin Commission - Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania
• Great Lakes Commission - Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
• Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission - Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
• New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont
• Interstate Environmental Commission - Connecticut, New Jersey, New York
• Greenwood Lake Commission - New Jersey, New York

Watershed Coalitions

Watershed Coalitions are made up of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) from multiple counties, while Watershed Alliances are made up of SWCDs and other local, state, and federal entities. They both work to identify and reduce pollutants in waterbodies, develop clean water plans like Nine - Element plans which receive support from the DEC, and follow Best Management Practices in their watershed.

• Champlain Watershed Improvement Coalition of New York
• Eastern Finger Lakes Watershed Coalition
• Finger Lakes – Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance
• Genesee River Watershed Coalition
• Lake Erie Watershed Protection Alliance
• Lower Hudson Coalition of Conservation Districts
• Mohawk River Watershed Coalition
• St. Lawrence River Watershed Project
• Upper Hudson River Watershed Coalition
• Upper Susquehanna Coalition