Section 803.42(e) of the Commission's regulations concerning standards for the consumptive use of water exempt all consumptive uses initiated prior to January 23, 1971, the effective date of the Susquehanna River Basin Compact, from the application of those regulations. This exemption was intended to balance the interests of pre-Compact users with the Commission's obligation to manage the water resources of the basin and should be narrowly construed to limit its applicability in the interest of protection of those resources.

Therefore, and in that regard, the transferability of the exemption contained in Section 803.42(e) to any subsequent consumptive user after the effective date of the Compact shall be limited to those transfers where the nature and amount of the exempted consumptive use remains unchanged.