Establishes a stakeholder group in the Oswego river basin

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Christopher Ryan says this is needed

In 1913 flooding ravaged the city of Albany. Called "the Great Flood," water levels rose twenty feet high and damaged homes and businesses throughout the city and the Hudson River valley. The Legislature, seek- ing to prevent future flooding along the State's longest and most economically important waterway, enacted legislation to establish river regulating districts that were tasked with mitigating future flood events. The aftermath and recovery from the Great Flood was long and extensive; however, over the course of the hundred plus years since the creation of the Hudson River Regulating Districts the State has prevented flooding in thousands of homes and businesses, and saved millions of dollars. In July 2023, heavy rainfall inundated the lakes, streams and rivers of the Oswego River Basin, which created floods that destroyed local commu- nities in the basin. The July 2023 flooding was not a unique event. According to the report authored by the Upstate Flood Mitigation Task Force, "....The Oswego River Basin experienced devastating, wide-spread- ing flood events in the spring of 1993 (snowmelt and precipitation event), and June 1972 (remnants of FLrricaofiurreaeresulLedover $5:).5 million in damage in the sectors of residential, commercial, public, and agricultural infrastructure." Flooding in the Oswego River basin is routine and similar to the flood events that occurred in the Hudson River basin a century ago. Furthermore, according to the Task Force report, "There is a need for better coordination between water management entities during normal conditions as well as flood events." Moreso, the Task Force urges the study and formation of a state entity that would "....initiate an inde- pendent water regulating district with the authority to direct water releases." It is in the interest of the State to ensure that proper measures for flood mitigation and the management of water flows are established in order to safeguard the residents and businesses of the Oswego River basin. This bill would establish an Oswego River Basin stakeholder group that would review and produce recommendations about how to mitigate flood events and manage the flow of water in the Oswego River basin. The protection provided by the Hudson River Regulating Districts plays an important part in mitigating floods along the Hudson River basin. The century old preventative legislation has proven invaluable year after year and decade after decade since enactment. The same protection should be extended to the Oswego River basin. The stakeholder group would have the ability to recommend creation of an Oswego River Basin Regulating District, similar to the Hudson River districts, for long term flood mitigation and water management. No longer should the commu- nities in the Oswego River basin, habitually devastated by floods and high water, be forced to subsist on a schedule of boom and bust, flood and rebuild. This bill would create a stakeholder group to mitigate floods and coordinate water release in the Oswego river basin.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.