Water Guidance Documents
The Technical and Operational Guidance Series (TOGS) of memos provides information on program delegation, special assignments, and explanation and technical detail for day-to-day operation of the Division of Water responsibilities. The memos provide information for new employees; for interested, regulated, or otherwise affected public; and for communication between Central Office staff and Regional staff and local environmental agencies. This is not a policies and procedures manual system, but rather, a vehicle to provide timely, detailed guidance to water program staff.
TOGS memos are distributed so that each regional water engineer, bureau director, section chief, and the program attorney can maintain a complete set. In addition, TOGS with a technical, non-administrative subject matter are also distributed to local environmental country agencies that provide support to the Division's programs, county health departments, and EPA Region II.
The TOGS memos are numbered and arranged by subject matter. For example, subjects related to the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination (SPDES) Permits are grouped first followed by groupings related to groundwater, water quantity, other technical and administrative subjects.
1.0 SPDES
1.1 Standards
1.1.1 Ambient Water Quality Standards and Guidance Values and Groundwater Effluent Limitations (PDF)
June 1998 Edition
January 1999 Errata Sheet (PDF)
April 2000 Addendum (PDF)
June 2004 Addendum (PDF)
February 2023 Addendum (PDF)
1.1.3 Procedures for Derivation of Site-Specific Standards and Guidance Values for Protection of Aquatic Life (PDF)
February 1998 Edition
1.1.4 Procedures for Derivation of Bioaccumulation Factors (PDF)
February 1998 Edition
1.1.5 Procedures for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Standards and Guidance Values for the Protection of Wildlife (PDF)
February 1998 Edition
1.1.6 Interpretation Guidance for Marine Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.) Standard (PDF)
November 2008 Edition
1.2 Permit Administration
1.2.1 Industrial Permit Writing (PDF)
February 1998 Edition
1.2.2 Administrative Procedures and Environmental Benefit Permit Strategy For Individual SPDES Permits (PDF)
January 25, 2012 Edition
1.2.3 Decentralization of Technical Permit Drafting Authority (PDF)
April 1990 Edition
1.2.4 Individual Sewage Treatment System Discharges to Surface Waters (PDF)
October 1990 Edition
1.2.5 Interpretation and Implementation of 6 NYCRR 750-1.6(f) (PDF)
June 2023 Edition
1.3 Permit Development
1.3.1 Total Maximum Daily Loads & Water Quality-Based Effluent Limits (PDF)
February 1998 Edition
1.3.1A Amendment - Organic Substances (PDF)
July 1996 Edition
1.3.1B Amendment - Low & Intermittent Flow Streams (PDF)
July 1996 Edition
1.3.1C Amendment - Metals (PDF)
July 1996 Edition
1.3.1D Amendment - Waste Assimilation Capacity Determinations for Isolated Wastewater Discharges in Fresh Water Streams (PDF)
July 1996 Edition
1.3.1E Amendment - Permit Limit Development for Certain Parameters (PDF)
July 1996 Edition
1.3.2 Toxicity Testing in the SPDES Program (PDF)
January 2008 Edition
1.3.3 SPDES Permit Development for POTWs (PDF)
February 1998 Edition
1.3.4 BPJ Methodologies
April 1987 Edition Superceded by TOGS 1.2.1
1.3.4. A BPJ Methodologies/Amendments
November 1988 Edition Deleted
1.3.5 Waste Assimilation Capacity Determinations for Isolated Wastewater Discharges in Fresh Water Streams (PDF)
October 1990 Edition
1.3.6 Phosphorus Removal Requirements for Wastewater Discharges to Lakes & Lake Watersheds (PDF)
December 1988 Edition
1.3.7 Analytical Detectability & Quantitation Guidelines for Selected Environmental Parameters (PDF)
February 2023 Edition
1.3.8 New Discharges to Publicly Owned Treatment Works (PDF)
October 1994 Edition
1.3.9 Implementation of the NYSDEC Antidegradation Policy - Great Lakes Basin (Supplement to Antidegradation Policy dated Sept. 9, 1985) (PDF)
February 1998 Edition
1.3.10 Mercury - SPDES Permitting & Multiple Discharge Variance (PDF)
December 2020 Edition
Conditional Exclusion Certification (PDF)
1.3.12 Incorporation of Flow-Related Conditions in Water Withdrawal Permits (PDF)
April 12, 2017
1.3.13 Permitting Strategy for Implementing Guidance Values for PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-Dioxane
February 2023 Edition
1.4 Compliance
1.4.1 Integrated Compliance Strategy System (PDF)
June 1996 Edition
1.4.2 Compliance/Enforcement of SPDES Permits (PDF)
June 2010 Edition
1.4.7 Sewer Moratorium on New Connections to POTWs (PDF)
March 1988 Edition
1.5 Surveillance
1.5.4 Guidelines for Staffing Wastewater Treatment Plants
1.6 Temporary/Intermittent Discharges
1.6.2 Bypasses (PDF)
November 1988 Edition
1.6.3 Combined Sewer Overflows (PDF)
October 1993 Edition
2.0 Groundwater
2.1.1 Groundwater Contamination Remediation Strategy (PDF)
December 1990 Edition
2.1.2 UIR at Groundwater Remediation Sites (PDF)
July 1990 Edition
2.1.3 Primary and Principal Aquifers Determinations (PDF)
October 1990 Edition
3.0 Water Quantity
3.1 Flood Protection
3.1.1 Ice Jam Problems (PDF)
December 1990 Edition
3.1.2 Dam Safety Inspection & Remediation Procedures (PDF)
December 1990 Edition
3.1.3 Emergency Action Plans For Dams (PDF)
December 2012 Edition
3.1.4 Guidance for Dam Engineering Assessment Reports (PDF)
September 2010 Edition
3.2 Water Supply
3.2.1 Processing Water Withdrawal Permit Applications - May 25, 2017 (PDF)
3.2.2 Engineer's Reports; Applications for Water Supply and L.I. Well Permits (PDF)
August 1990 Edition
5.0 Other Technical Subjects
5.1.2 Plans Prepared by Land Surveyors (PDF)
April 1990 Edition
5.1.3 Investigation of Agricultural Sources of Water Pollution (PDF)
July 1996 Edition
5.1.4 Official County & Minor Civil Divisions Population Projections (PDF)
October 1990 Edition
5.1.5 Bridge Scraping and Painting (PDF)
October 1990 Edition
5.1.6 Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Certification (PDF)
June 1998 Edition
5.1.7 Storage & Use of Highway Salt and Salt/Sand Mixtures (PDF)
January 1989 Edition
5.1.8 New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual
April 2008 Edition
You will be redirected to another webpage where the file can be downloaded in its entirety or in smaller segments
5.1.9 In-Water and Riparian Management of Sediment and Dredged Material (PDF)
November 2004 Edition
5.1.10 New York Standards and Specifications for Erosion and Sediment Controls
August 2005 Edition
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5.1.11 Snow Disposal (PDF)
July 2017 Edition
Please note: As a result of reorganization within DEC, the Bulk Storage TOGS (4.1.1 through 4.1.13) were transferred from the Division of Water to the Division of Environmental Remediation. Therefore, they are not included in the above list of TOGS documents.
The former Bulk Storage TOGS have been renamed SPOTS (Spill Prevention Operational and Technical Series). Copies can be obtained by going to the Bulk Storage Guidance Documents page.