Discharge Monitoring Report-Quality Assurance (DMR-QA) participation is mandatory for major and selected minor permit holders under the Clean Water Act's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Section 308. The DMR-QA study is designed to evaluate the entire process used by permittees to routinely report monitoring results in Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs). The study addresses the analytic ability of the laboratories that perform chemical, microbiological and whole effluent toxicity (WET) analyses required in the NPDES permits and the ability to properly report these results in the DMRs. Under DMR-QA, the permit holder is responsible for obtaining un-graded results of analyses of test samples performed by in-house and/or contract laboratories, and submitting these results to the appropriate federal or state NPDES regulatory authority and the commercial proficiency testing (PT) provider that supplies the test samples. Permit holders are responsible for submitting corrective action reports to the appropriate regulatory authority.
There is a decrease of 5,150 hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently approved by OMB. This decrease in burden hours can be attributed to a number of states obtaining full or partial waivers from this activity through agreements with the EPA. Labor costs were revised upward to take into account employee benefit compensation costs and inflation. Non-labor costs for obtaining proficiency test samples increased because of an update to the list of most commonly used analytes, and due to inflation.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.