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Ail land use management programs must be approved by the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) as part of public proceedings to reclassify the water body. Class WS-III waters have stream segments with no categorical restrictions on point source discharges in the watersheds. Land use management programs are not required for this classification. However, increased efforts are being made to protect these watersheds from potential contaminants through state-wide programs for toxic substance control and implementation of nonpoint source controls. B. Initial Classification Changes All waters previously classified as A-I are now classified as WS-I. At presentv these waters are considered to have a land use'management program which requires the watershed to remain undisturbed and uninhabited. Future changes which would allow certain activities in these watersheds must be reviewed by DEM, the Division for Health Services (DHS) and receive approval by the EMC. All waters previously classified as A-II were initially classified as Class WS-III. Many of these waters may qualify for either the WS-I or WS-II classification. Reclassification of WS-III waters to a more protected class will be initiated on a case-by-case basis following the development of a watershed protection program. This reclassification will follow normal procedures and will require a public hearing for all interested parties to comment. It is not the intent of the water supply classifications to have more than one classification within a small watershed. Therefore, any small watershed that is reclassified as WS-I or WS-II will have only one designated classification. However, a large water supply that can only be classified as WS-III may have upstream tributaries classified as WS-II to protect the water intake or may have other smaller water supply watersheds with either a WS-I or WS-II classification. With these initial classification changes, there are no new requirements for existing water supplies. The modified regulations only require some actions by the water supply user or authority if a more protective classification than WS-III is desired, or if some activities are planned for a WS-I (formerly A-I) watershed which are not consistent with the undisturbed and uninhabited requirement. C. Future Reclassifications DEM will consider all requests for upgrading WS-III waters to a more protective class. These requests will be initially reviewed to see whether existing pollution sources are consistent with a more protective class. The authority making the request will be informed of the initial review d~cision. ITEH ~U~BER 5