View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 2040-0004	ICR Reference No: 202201-2040-004
Status: Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 201902-2040-001
Agency/Subagency: EPA/OW	Agency Tracking No: 0229.25
Title: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program (Renewal)
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 07/27/2023
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 02/17/2022
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	07/31/2026	36 Months From Approved	07/31/2023
Responses	9,310,277	0	10,297,857
Time Burden (Hours)	31,143,504	0	28,221,350
Cost Burden (Dollars)	22,999,181	0	43,158,437

Abstract: This consolidated Information Collection Request (ICR) renews the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program ICR. It calculates the information collection burden and costs associated with the NPDES program, identifies the types of activities regulated under the NPDES program, describes the roles and responsibilities of state governments and the Agency, and presents the program areas that address the various types of regulated activities. This ICR renewal (Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control no. 2040-0004, EPA ICR no. 0229.24, expiration date 03/31/2022) consolidates the information collection burden and costs associated with activities previously reported in 18 of the NPDES program or NPDES-related ICRs. This renewal documents the addition of the burden and costs for the four existing NPDES ICRs listed below. Once this renewal ICR is approved, the following ICRs will be discontinued.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 33 USC 1251 Name of Law: Clean Water Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	86 FR 40823	07/29/2021
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	87 FR 6170	02/03/2022
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? Yes

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate
Annual Number of Responses	9,310,277	10,297,857	-987,580
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	31,143,504	28,221,350	2,922,154
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	22,999,181	43,158,437	-20,159,256

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: This consolidated Information Collection Request (ICR) renews the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program ICR. It calculates the burden and costs associated with the NPDES program, identifies the types of activities regulated under the NPDES program, describes the roles and responsibilities of state governments and the Agency, and presents the program areas that address the various types of regulated activities. This ICR being renewed (Office of Management and Budget [OMB] control no. 2040-0004, EPA ICR no. 0229.24, expiration date 03/31/2022) consolidates the burden and costs associated with activities previously reported in 18 of the NPDES program or NPDES-related ICRs. Once this renewal ICR is approved, the following ICRs will be discontinued (each originally would have been effective for three years) as this renewal ICR will account for their burden and costs: Public Notification Requirements for CSOs in the Great Lakes Basin (OMB control no. 2040-0293, EPA ICR 2562.03, expiration date 04/30/2024) Effluent Limitation Guidelines and Standards for the Dental Category (OMB control no. 2040-0287, EPA ICR no. 2514.01, expiration 11/30/2023) 2020 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for Industrial Stormwater Discharges (OMB control no. 2040-0300, EPA ICR no. 2612.02, expiration 03/31/2024) NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule Phase 2 Extension (OMB Control No.: 2020-0037, EPA ICR No. 2617.02, expiration 12/31/2023) The Clean Water Act (CWA) authorizes the Agency to issue permits for the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States; the Agency uses the NPDES program to regulate point source discharges. CWA section 402(b) allows states (defined to include Indian tribes and U.S. territories) to acquire authority for the NPDES program, enabling them to issue and administer NPDES permits. At present, 47 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands are authorized to administer the NPDES permit program. In states that do not have authority for these programs, the Agency administers the program and issues NPDES permits. Because some permit applications are processed by states and some by EPA, this ICR calculates government burden and cost for both authorized states and EPA. The majority of this burden hour increase occurred as a result of an increase in EPAs estimates of permittee respondents. The increases in EPAs estimates of the number of permittee respondents is largely attributed to improvements in the current NPDES Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS-NPDES) database, implementation of the Electronic Reporting Rule Phase 1, and refined estimates. Other significant changes in estimates of burden hours are the result of the following adjustments: This ICR eliminates the initial permit application and compliance activities for existing Cooling Water Intake Structure (CWIS) facilities as these activities have been completed by all existing CWIS facilities, resulting in a decrease in estimated burden hours for CWIS facilities. The collection burden associated with compliance with and administration of small vessels general permit (sVGP) has been removed. Eliminating the sVGP also decreased the number of vessel respondents significantly. The estimated number of respondents in some of the categories (shown in Appendix D of the ICR Supporting Statement) both increased and decreased per the current ICIS-NPDES database and based on refined EPA estimates. This ICR accounts for adjustments to inflation to September 2021 dollars that updated the presumed capital and operation and maintenance cost burden. The burden associated with Electronic Reporting Rule Phase I implementation activities has been removed. This includes the burden associated with Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) mailing by permittees, and all state and federal DMR processing previously included in the ICR.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $8,110,242

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

Agency Contact: Joshua Baehr 202 564-2277 baehr.joshua@epa.gov

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