Section 510-4 - Waters (Adm. Code Section 1904-A)The Department of Environmental Resources shall have the power and its duty shall be:
(1) To study, consider, and determine upon a public policy with regard to the conservation, marketing, and equitable distribution of the water and power to be derived from the utilization of the water resources of the Commonwealth, to the restoration, development, and improvement of transportation by water, to the supply of water and power for municipal, domestic, and industrial use, and to the conservation of water resources by the aid of forestation;(2) To investigate or examine dams, walls, wing walls, wharves, embankments, abutments, projections, bridges, and other water obstructions, determine whether they are unsafe, need repair, alteration or change in their structure or location, or should be removed, notify owners to repair, alter or change the structure or location or remove the same, repair, alter or change the structure or location or remove the same in emergencies without notice and at the cost of the owners, and apply for injunctions to enforce compliance with or restrain the violation of the law in regard to the safety of dams, or the derogatory effect of walls, wing walls, wharves, embankments, abutments, projections, bridges, or other water obstructions upon the regimen of streams, or the violation of any lawful order or notice of the department in regard thereto. The power of the department under this paragraph shall extend to and include all types of water obstructions, regardless of the date when such obstructions were constructed, and whether or not the same were constructed by express or implied permission of the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof;(3) To collect such information relative to the existing conditions of the water resources of the State as, in the opinion of the department, shall be necessary for the utilization of waters, and for the conservation, purification, development, and equitable distribution of water and water power resources, and in particular, for the use of such citizens and communities as may be in need of extended facilities for these purposes;(4) To establish and maintain gauging stations on rivers and their tributaries;(5) To issue bulletins, during freshet and flood conditions, forecasting gauge heights, and the times thereof;(6) To maintain a complete inventory of all the water resources of the Commonwealth; collect all pertinent data, facts, and information in connection therewith; classify, tabulate, record, and preserve the same; and, upon the basis thereof, determine, the points at which storage reservoirs may be constructed for flood control, for municipal and domestic supply, hydraulic and hydroelectric power, steam raising, steam condensation, navigation, and other utilization; and generally to devise all possible ways and means to conserve and develop the water supply and water resources of the Commonwealth for the use of the people thereof;(7) To construct, maintain, and operate works for water storage, flood control, channel improvement, or other hydraulic purposes;(8) To acquire by purchase, lease, gift or condemnation, with the approval of the Governor, such land, buildings and appurtenances thereto, as in the judgment of the department, may be necessary for the construction, maintenance, improvement or development of any port or harbor in this Commonwealth.(9) To promulgate rules and regulations to protect, manage and regulate the recreational use of designated whitewater zones; license whitewater outfitters operating within designated whitewater zones; and establish fees, royalties and charges for licenses and for using public lands, waters and facilities.(i) For each specific designated whitewater zone, a license to continue operating as a whitewater rafting outfitter shall be issued by the department to any whitewater rafting outfitter who has provided whitewater rafting services on a designated whitewater zone for a period of five or more years, who has provided those services under formal agreement with the department, who has demonstrated an acceptable measure of compliance with the safety and operational requirements of that agreement and who has provided whitewater rafting services on that designated whitewater zone prior to operation and management of that designated whitewater zone through formal agreement with the department. Each whitewater rafting outfitter presently conducting whitewater rafting trips under agreement with the department shall be deemed to fulfill the foregoing criteria.(ii) Licenses issued by the department to continue to operate as a whitewater rafting outfitter shall be for a period of ten years and shall be renewable under guidelines appropriate and necessary to protect the public health, safety and interest and provide stability to the outfitting industry; shall be transferrable under reasonable guidelines of the department relating to transfer of licenses and required qualifications of transferees; shall include the right to continue to utilize or lease any premises leased before the effective date of this act by a whitewater rafting outfitter from the department or offer to lease such access areas as the department deems appropriate for use by whitewater rafting outfitters; and shall supersede, after the adoption of regulations, any agreement between the department and a whitewater rafting outfitter, except fee agreements in which a whitewater rafting outfitter is required to pay the department a fee, which fee agreements shall continue for the life of the agreement and which shall not preclude the issuance of a license.(iii) The department may, with regard to a specific designated whitewater zone, accept bids, issue licenses and charge fees and royalties for an additional whitewater rafting outfitter only if the department determines that there is additional whitewater rafting outfitter carrying capacity on the waterway and that there is a need for additional whitewater rafting outfitter allocations. Such licenses shall apply only for that specific designated whitewater zone and only for a period not to exceed ten years.(iv) Licensed whitewater rafting outfitters shall be subject to all appropriate rules, regulations and guidelines promulgated by the department for the purposes of regulating the operation and safety of each designated whitewater zone.(v) Licenses granted by the department may be terminated by the department for noncompliance after a 30-day written notice to the outfitter and a hearing in accordance with Title 2 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (relating to administrative law and procedure).1929, April 9, P.L. 177, art. XIX-A, § 1904-A, added 1970, Dec. 3, P.L. 834, No. 275, § 20, effective 1/19/1971. Amended 1985, July 11, P.L. 232, No. 57, § 2, imd. effective.