Special use waters are rivers, streams and lakes listed in Kentucky Administration Regulations or the Federal Register as Cold Water Aquatic Habitat, Exceptional Waters, Reference Reach Waters, Outstanding State Resource Waters, Outstanding National Resource Waters, State Wild Rivers, and Federal Wild and Scenic Rivers.    Not included as special use waters are waterbodies designated by default as Warm Water Aquatic Habitat, Primary Contact Recreation, and Secondary Contact Recreation.

"Cold water aquatic habitat" (CAH) means surface waters and associated substrate that will support indigenous aquatic life or self-sustaining or reproducing trout populations on a year-round basis. (401 KAR 5:031, Section 4).

"Outstanding state resource waters" (OSRW) means surface waters designated by the cabinet pursuant to 401 KAR 5:031, Section 7, and includes certain unique waters of the Commonwealth.

"Exceptional waters" (EXCW) means waterbodies whose quality exceeds that necessary to support propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water. (401 KAR 5:030, Section 3).

"Federal wild river areas" (F-WILD) is a classification of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (PL 90-542) and means those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. These represent vestiges of primitive America.

"Federal scenic river areas" (F-SCENIC) is a classification of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (PL 90-542) and means those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads.

"Outstanding National Resource Waters" (ONRW) are waters that meet the requirements for an outstanding state resource water classification and are of national ecological or recreational significance.  They are listed in 401 KAR 5:030 Section 3.

"Reference Reach Waters" (R-RCH) are streams representative of a large number of similar streams within a definable geographic area. Reference reach waters are the least impacted within an ecoregion and provide an estimate of attainable conditions for similar streams within the same ecoregion and watershed. These streams are included in the list of exceptional waters in 401 KAR 5:030 Section 3(2).

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E-mail :Cliff Schneider, Aquatic Biologist for more information about special use waters.