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OMB Control No: 2040-0309	ICR Reference No: 202405-2040-002
Status: Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 202212-2040-001
Agency/Subagency: EPA/OW	Agency Tracking No: 2700.02
Title: Water Quality Standards Regulatory Revisions to Protect Tribal Reserved Rights (Final Rule)
Type of Information Collection: New collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 08/09/2024
	Date Received in OIRA: 06/10/2024
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	08/31/2027	36 Months From Approved
Responses	89	0	0
Time Burden (Hours)	19,962	0	0
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), states and authorized Tribes (i.e., Tribes with authority to administer a CWA water quality standards program in the same manner as states) establish water quality standards (WQS) for waters of the United States under their jurisdiction. Many federally recognized Tribes hold rights to CWA-protected aquatic and aquatic-dependent resources through treaties, statutes, or executive orders, in waters of the U.S. subject to state WQS. This rule establishes a framework for how Tribal reserved rights, as defined in this final rule, must be considered in establishing WQS. This rule requires that if a right holder asserts a Tribal reserved right in writing to a state and the EPA for consideration in establishment of WQS, the state must, to the extent supported by available data and information: 1) take into consideration the use and value of its waters for protecting the Tribal reserved right in adopting or revising designated uses; 2) take into consideration the anticipated future exercise of the Tribal reserved right unsuppressed by water quality in establishing relevant WQS; and 3) establish water quality criteria to protect the Tribal reserved right where the state has adopted designated uses that either expressly incorporate protection of or encompass the right. The current WQS regulation at 40 CFR Part 131 requires states and authorized Tribes to include supporting information to accompany WQS submissions to help the EPA determine whether the submitted new and revised WQS are consistent with the CWA. The rule adds two new requirements to 40 CFR Part 131: 1) the rule adds a condition that right holders must assert their rights in writing before their rights can be considered for protection by the rule; and 2) where applicable, state and authorized Tribal WQS submissions must provide any information provided by right holders about relevant Tribal reserved rights and documentation of how that information was considered; and data and methods used to develop the water quality standards. This ICR provides estimates of burden and cost to all federally recognized Tribes asserting reserved rights and to states and authorized Tribes with WQS to implement new collection requirements in the rule.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 40 USC 1313c Name of Law: Clean Water Act (CWA)

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
2040-AG17	Final or interim final rulemaking	89 FR 35717	05/02/2024

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

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 3

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
Authorized Tribes
Federally Recognized Tribes
States

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	89	89
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	19,962	19,962
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0

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

Burden Increase Due to: Changing Regulations

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

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: For this ICR (new rule/collection), EPA activities associated with WQS review include reviewing new and revised WQS for consistency with the CWA, including protection of Tribal reserved rights.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $326,400

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: Kelly Gravuer 202 566-2946 gravuer.kelly@epa.gov

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