Research


Administrative History

The Water Storage Commission was established in 1902 to investigate and report on the State's water supply. In 1905, the State Water Supply Commission was created to administer a systematic plan for maintaining water supplies for the State's municipalities. The commission reviewed applications and approved all maps and profiles related to sources of water supply. In 1906, the Water Supply Commission absorbed the River Improvement Commission that was responsible for regulating the flow of water courses in the aid of public health and safety. The commission reviewed applications from municipalities and then authorized preliminary surveys and investigations into the causes and solutions to the water flow problems. Any improvements could only be undertaken under specific legislative authorization. In 1906, the legislature approved a statewide improvement plan for the regulation of the flow of Canaseraga Creek. An important tributary of the Genesee River, heavy silt deposits and the irregular course of the creek caused severe annual flooding in Livingston County. The slow subsidence of floodwaters on the flat land impaired cultivation and caused damage. When the functions and powers of the Water Supply Commission were incorporated within the Conservation Commission in 1911, the Conservation Commission took up the important issue of the Canaseraga Creek Improvement District.

In 1921, the Water Power Commission was established to issue licenses for the development of power resources. In 1926, the Conservation Department assumed the functions of the Water Power Commission and the Water Control Commission, which had been established in 1922 to supervise water flow and supply. The Division of Water Power and Control, headed by the Water Power and Control Commission, was created within the Conservation Department to carry out this mandate. In 1960, the titles of the Division of Water Power and Control and the Water Power and Control Commission were changed to the Division of Water Resources and the Water Resources Commission, respectively.