Enacts the "New York open water data act", the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  5254--A
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 12, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. KELLES, ROSENTHAL, SIMONE, COLTON, OTIS, SLATER,
   LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on  Environmental
   Conservation  -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
   as amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN ACT in relation to enacting the "New York open water data act"

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "New York open water data act".
   § 2. Definitions. For purposes of this act, the following terms  shall
 have the following meanings:
   1. "Conveners" means the:
   (a) New York water resources institute at Cornell University; and
   (b) New York sea grant at Stony Brook University.
   2. "Agencies" means the:
   (a) New York state department of environmental conservation;
   (b)  New  York  state  department  of  health's bureau of water supply
 protection;
   (c) New York state department of agriculture and markets;
   (d) New York state canal corporation;
   (e) New York city department of environmental protection; and
   (f) public service commission.
   3. "Water data" means:
   (a) Measurements of basic properties  relating  to  the  planning  and
 management  of  water  resources,  including  streamflow, precipitation,
 ground water, water quality and water use in agriculture,  industry  and
 municipal uses and natural systems;
   (b)  All  such  data  related  to fresh or inland waters of the state,
 including but not limited to wetlands, lakes, streams,  creeks,  rivers,
 reservoirs, aquifers, and groundwater;
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01686-02-5
 A. 5254--A                          2
 
   (c)  All  data  related  to  state and municipal water infrastructure,
 including but not limited to canals, aqueducts, dams, and pipes;
   (d)  Data that may include areas of mixing of fresh and marine waters,
 including but not limited to tidal basins and estuaries; and
   (e) At the discretion of the conveners,  the  term  "water  data"  may
 include data related to coastal waters used for human activities includ-
 ing, but not limited to agriculture, recreation, and industry.
   §  3.  Water  data  conveners and agencies; duties; standards and best
 practices; annual plan. 1. By January 1 in the year after this act shall
 have become a law, and at  least  quarterly  thereafter,  the  conveners
 shall  organize  and hold a meeting with the agencies to plan and deter-
 mine a framework to meet the requirements set forth in this section. The
 conveners shall provide any expertise and support  necessary  to  assist
 the  agencies in meeting the requirements of this section and the frame-
 work established by the agencies.
   2. By January 1 two years after this act shall have become a law,  the
 agencies and the conveners shall:
   (a)  identify  key water data, information and tools needed to support
 water management and planning, including but not limited to;
   (i) state and local  government  data  on  streamflow,  precipitation,
 reservoir and irrigation system operations, ground water use and levels,
 municipal and industrial water use and land uses, but not including data
 from residential wells;
   (ii) data on water rights, water diversions and water quality;
   (iii) data on fish, aquatic and riparian systems and ecological data;
   (iv)  water  quality  data,  including  sampling  results generated by
 public water supplies in accordance with title 1 of article  11  of  the
 public health law;
   (v) data from private wells collected by local or state agencies;
   (vi) commercial uses of water licensed by state agencies;
   (vii)  water  affordability  data,  including but not limited to water
 rates, shut-offs conducted, and aggregate data on arrears; and
   (viii) water infrastructure data.
   (b) develop common  water  data  standards  for  data  collection  and
 dissemination,  including practices to standardize and clean up data and
 make it available to the public in commonly  used  data  formats,  which
 shall,  where appropriate, be arranged or identified by county and muni-
 cipality or other appropriate geographic area, and  that  shall  exclude
 specific addresses, locations, and other personal information;
   (c)  make  such water data available to the public through the state's
 open data program OpenNY, including working to identify and develop  any
 critical  data  that  can  be made accessible via geographic information
 systems (GIS) mapping and ensuring that all datasets have an application
 programming interface (API) endpoint to allow researchers and developers
 to access and deploy such data in ways that further public use  of  such
 data;
   (d) identify available and unavailable water data; and
   (e)  develop  pathways  to  include  water  data  derived from citizen
 science efforts.
   3. Water data research undertaken with state funding shall comply with
 the common water data standards and  best  practices  developed  by  the
 agencies.
   4.    The  agencies  and  the  conveners  shall  update all water data
 collected pursuant to this act at least annually.
   5. The agencies shall collaborate with other  regional,  national  and
 international  efforts,  including  but  not  limited to the great lakes
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 commission and the international joint commission, to  share,  integrate
 and manage water data.
   6.  By  September  1 two years after this act shall have become a law,
 and thereafter annually by September 1 of each year, the agencies  shall
 develop  and  submit  a  plan  to  the governor and the legislature that
 details:
   (a) an assessment of water data and information needs to support water
 management and planning;
   (b) goals, targets and actions to carry out the purposes of  this  act
 in the upcoming fiscal year;
   (c) budgetary resources to carry out the purposes of this act; and
   (d) metrics for achieving the purposes of this act.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law.