The department shall exercise its powers and perform its duties in any matter affecting the construction of improvements to or developments of water resources for the public health, safety or welfare, including but not limited to the supply of potable waters for the various municipalities and inhabitants thereof, the use of water for industrial and agricultural operations, the developed and undeveloped water power of the state, the facilitation of proper drainage and the regulation of flow and improvement of the rivers of the state.
New York Legal Code