View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 2040-0270	ICR Reference No: 201205-2040-001
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 200911-2040-001
Agency/Subagency: EPA/OW	Agency Tracking No: 2192.05
Title: Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring in Public Water Systems (Final Rule)
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 08/06/2012
	Date Received in OIRA: 05/02/2012
Terms of Clearance: Pursuant to 5 CFR 1320 and the Paperwork Reduction Act, OMB approves this collection for three years.

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	08/31/2015	36 Months From Approved	01/31/2014
Responses	4,211	0	1,694
Time Burden (Hours)	40,667	0	9,761
Cost Burden (Dollars)	13,093,934	0	2,863,520

Abstract: Section 1445(a)(2) of the 1996 amendments to 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). SDWA requires that EPA vary the frequency and schedule for monitoring based on the number of persons served, the source of supply, and the contaminants likely to be found. It requires that EPA only include a representative sample of systems 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 Regulation (UCMR 1) for PWSs in the Federal Register (FR) on September 17, 1999 (64 FR 50556). In addition, several supplemental rules established analytical methods, and provided clarifications and refinements to the initial rule. The second UCMR (UCMR 2) was published in the Federal Register on January 4, 2007 and built on the established structure of UCMR 1 while making some changes to the rule design. The third UCMR (UCMR 3) builds on the established structure of UCMR 1 and UCMR 2, and makes some changes to improve the rule design. EPA revised the contaminant list, analytical methods and sampling design for UCMR 3. UCMR 3 monitoring will take place from 2013 through 2015. The applicable three-year period for this particular Information Collection Request (ICR) is 2012-2014.The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, directs EPA to establish criteria for a program to monitor not more than 30 unregulated contaminants every five years. EPA published the first group of contaminants in the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (i.e., UCMR 1), which established a revised approach for UCMR implementation, in the Federal Register dated September 17, 1999, (64 FR 50556). EPA published the second group of contaminants in UCMR 2, in the Federal Register dated January 4, 2007, (72 FR 367). This regulation met the SDWA requirement by identifying 25 new priority contaminants to be monitored during the UCMR 2 cycle of 2007-2011. Under UCMR 2, Assessment Monitoring uses more common analytical method technologies used by drinking water laboratories. All public water systems (PWSs) serving more than 10,000 people, and 800 representative PWSs serving fewer than 10,001 people are required to monitor for the 10 "List 1" contaminants during a 12-month period between January 2008-December 2010. Screening Survey monitoring uses more specialized analytical method technologies not as widely used by drinking water laboratories. All PWSs serving more than 100,000 people, 320 representative PWSs serving 10,001-100,000 people, and 480 representative PWSs serving fewer than 10,001 people are required to monitor for the 15 "List 2" contaminants during a 12-month period between January 2008-December 2010.

Authorizing Statute(s): PL: Pub.L. 104 - 182 1445(a)(2) Name of Law: Safe Drinking Water Act (as amended 1996)

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
2040-AF10	Final or interim final rulemaking	77 FR 26072	05/02/2012

Federal Register Notices & Comments
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 2

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
Public Water Systems
State Agencies

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	4,211	1,694	2,517
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	40,667	9,761	30,906
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	13,093,934	2,863,520	10,230,414

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

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

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: This ICR builds upon the ICR developed for UCMR 2. The reasons that respondents to UCMR 3 will incur a different burden than those responding to UCMR 2 include: -UCMR 3 establishes a new list of 29 unregulated contaminants, including 27 chemicals measured using up to seven analytical methods and/or four equivalent consensus organization-developed methods, and two viruses measured using one sample collection and two detection methods. In addition, EPA is requiring the monitoring of total chromium under the authority provided in Section 1445 (a)(1)(A) of the SDWA. The cost for sample analysis is different than for UCMR 2. EPA plans to have laboratories under EPA contract to conduct sample analysis for the two viruses. -More QA samples are collected and analyzed under UCMR 3 than were collected for UCMR 2. Field blanks will be collected for three Assessment Monitoring (List 1) methods, the one Screening Survey (List 2) method, and additional QA samples will be collected and analyzed for Pre-Screen Testing (List 3) viruses and indicator pathogens (see Exhibit 1 in section 4(b)(i), Part A of the supporting statement). -UCMR 3 monitoring is based on retail population served. Thus, as compared to UCMR 1 and 2, systems that purchase all of their water from monitoring are not excluded. In addition, some wholesale systems will no longer be subject to monitoring. All systems serving more than 10,000 retail customers must monitor for Assessment Monitoring (List 1) contaminants. Because of this change, EPA estimates a net increase of approximately 800 large and very large systems to monitor for UCMR 3, compared to those that monitored for UCMR 2 (see Exhibit 8 in section 6(a)(i), Part A of the supporting statement). -Samples for the metals and chlorate (under Assessment Monitoring) will be collected for all systems at the DSMRT location in addition to the required EPTDS locations (see explanation in section 4(b)(ii), Part A of the supporting statement).

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $4,707,385

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? Yes Part B of Supporting Statement

Is the Supporting Statement intended to be a Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Government Act of 2002? 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? Uncollected

Agency Contact: Spencer Clark 202 566-0729 clark.spencer@epa.gov

View ICR - OIRA Conclusion