By State › New York

New York: Laws & Legal Considerations

Download all of New York as PDF Print

New York doesn’t just permit rainwater collection, state guidance actively teaches it. But it’s the first state covered on this site with a specific roof-material restriction written into the guidance itself.

RuleNew York
Source water Rooftop catchment
Permit required No, for typical residential systems; check local plumbing code for anything plumbed indoors
Roof material restriction Cannot harvest from tar-and-gravel, asbestos shingle, or treated cedar shake roofs, or from any roof with lead-containing metal flashing
Permitted uses Non-potable: irrigation, toilet flushing

Why the roof material matters here specifically

The restriction exists because those specific roofing materials can leach contaminants, including lead, directly into water that’s about to be stored and used, even for non-potable purposes. It’s a genuinely useful check to make before setting up a system: confirm what your own roof is actually made of, not just whether collecting from it is legal in the abstract.

Where to find it: the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (dec.ny.gov) publishes rainwater harvesting guidance; check with your local building department for any additional municipal rules.

Water rights: riparian, the same family as Florida’s system

New York uses a regulated riparian system for its lakes, rivers, and streams, the same broad family as Florida’s, built around land ownership rather than who claimed the water first.

ConceptHow it works in New York
Who holds the right Owners of land bordering a watercourse (riparian) or lake (littoral)
Governing principle Reasonable use: a landowner's use can't unreasonably interfere with other riparian owners' use of the same shared water
DEC's role Article 15 of the Environmental Conservation Law requires a DEC permit to alter a watercourse or wetland, or for larger water withdrawals, beyond ordinary riparian use

Where to find it: the DEC’s Division of Water (dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/water) handles permitting for anything beyond basic riparian use.

Concealed carry: the most restrictive system covered on this site so far

Every other state covered in this section, Utah, Texas, and Florida, lets most adults carry a concealed handgun without any license at all. New York is the opposite: even after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision forced the state to drop its old discretionary “proper cause” standard, New York responded with the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, one of the most demanding licensing processes in the country.

RequirementDetail
Standard May-issue converted to a "good moral character" standard: character references, an in-person interview, and a background investigation are all required, not just a records check
Required training 18 hours total: 16 hours of classroom instruction plus 2 hours of live-fire qualification, through a DCJS-approved instructor, plus a written test requiring 80% or better
Sensitive locations An extensive list of places where carry is banned even with a valid license: schools, parks, places of worship, bars, Times Square, public transit, and many others
Governing statute The Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA), signed July 1, 2022

This is still an actively litigated area of law

Multiple provisions of the CCIA have faced federal court challenges since 2022; most of the sensitive-locations framework has survived so far, including the Supreme Court declining to review key challenges, but this remains one of the more legally contested gun laws in the country. Don’t treat any single source, including this one, as the final word on current status; confirm before relying on it.

Sources