The collection
is pre-approved, contingent upon no substantive changes being made
to this collection after adoption of the final rule. Otherwise this
collection should be re-submitted to OMB for review.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
12/31/2019
36 Months From Approved
03/31/2019
2,020
0
2,154
77,018
0
17,902
19,163,554
0
6,546,967
Section 1445(a)(2) of the Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires that once every five years,
beginning in 1999, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) issue a new list of no more than 30 unregulated
contaminants to be monitored by public water systems (PWSs).
Information collected under the program supports the Agency
decision making regarding whether or not to regulate particular
contaminants in drinking water. SDWA requires that EPA vary the
frequency and schedule for the monitoring program based on the
number of persons served, the source of supply, and the
contaminants likely to be found. EPA is required by SDWA to only
include a representative sample of PWSs serving 10,000 or fewer
people. SDWA also requires EPA to enter the monitoring data into
the National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Database (NCOD).
EPA published the first Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule
(UCMR 1) for PWSs in the Federal Register (FR) on September 17,
1999 (64 FR 50556). The second UCMR (UCMR 2) published in the FR on
January 4, 2007 (72 FR 367), and the third UCMR (UCMR 3), published
in the FR on May 2, 2012 (77 FR 26071), built on the established
structure of the previous UCMRs, while making some changes to the
rule design. EPA revised the contaminant list, analytical methods,
cost assumptions and sampling design for the specific contaminants
in UCMR 4. The five-year UCMR 4 period spans 2017-2021. UCMR 4
monitoring begins in 2018 and continues through 2020. The
applicable three-year period for this particular Information
Collection Request (ICR) is 2017-2019. The applicable ICR period
overlaps with the first three years of the five-year UCMR 4 period.
Most of the burden is incurred in the second, third and fourth year
(i.e. monitoring and sample analysis) of the UCMR 4 monitoring
period. The first year (the planning year) involves a lesser
burden, and the final fifth year involves the least burden since
the program is concluding. The UCMR 4 ICR renewal period
(2020-2022) will overlap with the last two years of the five-year
UCMR 4 period, and therefore will have substantially lower
figures.
This ICR builds upon the ICR
developed for UCMR 3, entitled: Information Collection Request for
UCMR 3, ICR Number 2192.05, OMB Control No. 2040-0270. After the
UCMR 1 program was established in 1999, subsequent UCMR cost and
burden estimates were incorporated into the larger
Chemical/Radionuclides ICR. However, the UCMR 2 and UCMR 3 ICRs
were developed and tracked separately from the
Chemical/Radionuclides ICR, because the Chemical/Radionuclides ICR
was a “renewal” ICR, whereas the UCMR program is, per SDWA, a
program that must change every five years. Like the UCMR 2 and UCMR
3 ICRs, this action and subsequent ICRs will be developed and
tracked separately. The reasons that respondents to this ICR incur
a different burden than those responding to the previous UCMR ICRs
include: • UCMR 4 includes only one monitoring component;
Assessment Monitoring. • UCMR 4 includes a new list of 30
contaminants. Because the laboratory methods are different, the
cost of laboratory analysis differs for UCMR 4. o Under UCMR 4,
approximately 5,100 PWSs will monitor for 20 chemicals using up to
seven methods with an estimated total unit cost of $1,446 per
sample; and approximately 3,500 SW and GWUDI PWSs will monitor for
10 cyanotoxins using up to three methods with an estimated total
unit cost of $1,050 per sample. These SW and GWUDI PWSs will
monitor eight times instead of the traditional four times. o Under
UCMR 3, approximately 5,000 PWSs monitored for 21 chemicals using
six methods with an estimated total unit cost of $1,085;
approximately 1,200 PWSs monitored for seven chemicals using one
method with an estimated unit cost of $418; and 800 PWSs monitored
for two viruses and indicator organisms, using three methods with
an estimated total unit cost of $1,880. • EPA will not collect
duplicate Quality Assurance (QA) field samples for the small PWSs.
• EPA updated wage rates, and re-examined labor burden estimates
for states, EPA, and PWS activities. • PWSs will collect samples
from EPTDS, distribution locations, and source water (TOC and
bromide) locations. Because not all of these samples will be
collected at the same time, and at the same locations, EPA
estimated more time for sample collection activities than in
previous UCMRs. In addition, some of the costs presented in this
final ICR have changed compared to the proposed UCMR because: • EPA
removed the requirement for source water cyanotoxin analysis using
ELISA. • HAAs sampling is now limited to only those PWSs that are
subject to the requirements of the D/DBPRs. • EPA updated wage
rates to 2015/2016 dollars.
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.
Public Water Systems