Legislation to finally end large-scale, unregulated withdrawals of New York's water has passed both houses of the Legislature and now heads to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk.

The legislation was sponsored by the Environmental Conservation Chairs: Assembly Member Bob Sweeney and Sen. Mark Grisanti.Marking one of the most important environmental successes of the 2011 legislative session, the measure provides the Department of Environmental Conservation with new authority to regulate facilities with the capacity to withdraw more than 100,000 gallons of water per day.

New York currently lacks a statewide program for protecting waters from such withdrawals. Absent such regulations, individuals and corporations can withdraw as much water from streams, rivers, lakes and creeks as they wish -- regardless of the consequences for aquatic ecosystems, downstream water supplies, and dilution requirements on pollution discharges.

The bill further directs the DEC to promulgate rules and regulations to implement the withdrawal program, create a water conservation and efficiency program, and require inter-basin transfers of more than a million gallons a day to be registered with the agency.

Water, although seemingly infinite, is a finite resource in New York. Population growth and increased use of water for agriculture and industry have placed increased demands on the state’s water resources. Other potential threats to the water supply come from the changing climate as well as proposals to export large quantities of water to other states and nations.