WATERVILLE -- The fact the Kennebec River is getting cleaner is as clear as the once-brown water now flowing within its banks.

Environmental groups and the Department of Environmental Protection want to change the official classification of the stretch of Kennebec River between Shawmut Dam in Benton and Fairfield and Messalonskee Stream in Waterville, to reflect the fact that it's cleaner.

The change, from Class C to Class B, would bring tighter restrictions on discharges into the river, and require its current water quality to be maintained.

But leaders of environmental groups said at a Board of Environmental Protection hearing Thursday the proposed reclassification doesn't go far enough. They believe the entire 15-mile stretch of river between Waterville and Skowhegan already meets Class B water quality standards and should be reclassified, too.

They were especially upset by a last-minute change in DEP's recommendation, removing parts of the river which are impounded by two dams from the classification change.

"The whole stretch of river from Skowhegan to Waterville is a good fishery and we believe it meets Class B standards now," said Nick Bennett, staff scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. He urged the BEP to upgrade the classification of both free-flowing and impounded waters of the Kennebec. "It's the last stretch of the Kennebec that's not already B. The department has a lot of data already. I don't want to be here, six years from now, asking the board to do this, again."

DEP officials had originally recommended the entire river between Shawmut and Waterville be upgraded to Class B, but Andrew Fisk, director of the Bureau of Land and Water Quality, said Thursday the department has modified that recommendation.

The modification was the removal of the waters impounded by two dams on that section of river from the classification upgrade.

He said they don't have enough data for those waters, and weren't able to collect the water quality data they needed this summer due to the high water flow.

DEP filings indicate water quality in the stretch of water is affected by two paper mills' discharges, several municipal discharges and two dam impoundments.

Mike Barden, speaking for the Maine Pulp and Paper Association, said the industry group agrees with both the classification upgrade and the impounded waters being excluded from it.

"We don't have a problem if they want to upgrade it," Barden said. "But we'd like to see the data first."

BEP Chairman Ernest Hilton said people wishing to comment on the proposed reclassification may submit written testimony to the DEP until Oct. 2, before the board makes its decision and recommendation to the Legislature.

The Kennebec River change was one of 16 river or stream classification changes being considered by the BEP.

Classifications range from AA -- in which designated uses are limited and no discharge of pollutants is allowed -- to C, in which designated uses are more extensive and some discharges impacting aquatic life are allowed.

Steve Hinchman, a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation in Brunswick, supported the classification upgrades as a way to help make sure the waters involved aren't allowed to backslide and become degraded.

"There's no vested right to pollute," he said of discharges into the rivers. "Clean water is an economic boon. We've seen it in Boston Harbor, in the revival of Merrymeeting (Bay), in the Kennebec River..."

Richard Lawrence, a former selectman in Benton, said he's been observing changes in the river for the last 40 years.

"It's a visually stunning change," he said. "I think it's something we can celebrate. And I hope part of the celebration will be the reclassification of this river."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com