Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 7, 2021 / Notices 50125 

ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS—Continued 

Type of respondent Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden per 

response 

(in hours) 

Total burden 

hours 

Medical Expert ...................................................... Advanced Review ......... 39 28 15/60 273 

State Health Personnel ......................................... SDY Module N ............. 13 55 10/60 119 

Total hours ..................................................... ....................................... ........................ ........................ ........................ 511 

Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, 

Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2021–19163 Filed 9–3–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[60Day–21–21HT; Docket No. CDC–2021– 

0090] 

Proposed Data Collection Submitted 

for Public Comment and 

Recommendations 

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC), Department of Health 

and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice with comment period. 

SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of 

its continuing effort to reduce public 

burden and maximize the utility of 

government information, invites the 

general public and other Federal 

agencies the opportunity to comment on 

a proposed and/or continuing 

information collection, as required by 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

This notice invites comment on a 

proposed information collection project 

titled National Wastewater Surveillance 

System for COVID–19. The proposed 

information collection project aims to 

collect SARS–CoV–2 wastewater and 

associated sewershed-level case data 

from participating jurisdictions in the 

United States to inform COVID–19 

prevention and control efforts. 

DATES: CDC must receive written 

comments on or before November 8, 

2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by Docket No. CDC–2021– 

0090 by any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 

for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information 

Collection Review Office, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 

Clifton Road NE, MS–D74, Atlanta, 

Georgia 30329. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

Docket Number. CDC will post, without 

change, all relevant comments to 

Regulations.gov. 

Please note: Submit all comments 

through the Federal eRulemaking portal 

(regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 

address listed above. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request more information on the 

proposed project or to obtain a copy of 

the information collection plan and 

instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Information Collection Review Office, 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS– 

D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 

404–639–7118; Email: omb@cdc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) 

(44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), Federal agencies 

must obtain approval from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for each 

collection of information they conduct 

or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also 

requires Federal agencies to provide a 

60-day notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, including each new 

proposed collection, each proposed 

extension of existing collection of 

information, and each reinstatement of 

previously approved information 

collection before submitting the 

collection to the OMB for approval. To 

comply with this requirement, we are 

publishing this notice of a proposed 

data collection as described below. 

The OMB is particularly interested in 

comments that will help: 

1. Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; 

4. Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submissions 

of responses; and 

5. Assess information collection costs. 

Proposed Project 

National Wastewater Surveillance 

System for COVID–19—New—National 

Center for Emerging and Zoonotic 

Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC). 

Background and Brief Description 

The COVID–19 pandemic has 

demonstrated the need for timely, 

actionable surveillance data to inform 

prevention and control activities. The 

genetic material of SARS–CoV–2, the 

virus that causes COVID–19, has been 

detected in the feces of infected 

individuals, regardless of their symptom 

status. Therefore, sampling and testing 

wastewater provides a means to obtain 

an assessment of SARS–CoV–2 infection 

trends in the community independent of 

health care seeking, or other clinical 

indicators. 

The Waterborne Disease Prevention 

Branch (WDPB) in the Division of 

Foodborne, Waterborne, and 

Environmental Diseases works to 

prevent domestic and global water, 

sanitation, and hygiene related disease. 

In support of the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID– 

19 response, WDPB established the 

National Wastewater Surveillance 

System (NWSS). NWSS serves as a 

public health tool to provide 

environmental surveillance of SARS– 

CoV–2 infections. Wastewater data have 

provided impactful information to local 

public health authorities, whether to 

confirm trends observed in testing or 

hospitalization rates, or to assert the 

need for increased testing or healthcare 

resources. NWSS has supported 


sradovich on DSKJLST7X2PROD with NOTICES
50126 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 7, 2021 / Notices 

jurisdictions throughout the United 

States to implement wastewater 

surveillance, and will continue to 

support state, tribal, local, and territorial 

(STLT) partners to collect wastewater 

data. Data are input to the Data 

Collation and Integration for Public 

Health Event Response (DCIPHER) 

platform for participants to view and 

analyze their data in near real time. 

Wastewater surveillance provides 

aggregated, anonymized data at the 

community level to indicate trends in 

SARS–CoV–2 infections. These data can 

be particularly useful in underserved 

populations where clinical testing is 

limited or health care seeking is 

reduced. Wastewater data collection 

could inform locations that require 

greater resource allocation early in 

outbreaks and provide health 

departments with an additional, 

clinical-testing agnostic surveillance 

method to assess community-level 

COVID–19 trends. 

Wastewater data collection will be 

coordinated by health department 

jurisdictions through close collaboration 

with wastewater utilities, testing 

laboratories, and CDC. Wastewater 

utilities will collect grab, time-weighted 

composite, or flow-weighted composite 

samples of wastewater from wastewater 

influent lines at least once a week. The 

wastewater samples will be shipped 

along with their associated sampling 

metadata to testing laboratories where 

SARS–CoV–2 RNA will be quantified. 

The testing laboratory will deliver 

wastewater sample collection and 

laboratory testing data to the 

jurisdiction health department to 

compile, review, and submit to CDC 

using the comma separated value (CSV) 

bulk upload template into the NWSS 

DCIPHER platform. 

In addition to wastewater data, 

jurisdiction health departments will 

work with participating utilities to 

obtain spatial files of the utility service 

areas, also called a sewershed. These 

sewershed spatial files will be uploaded 

by jurisdiction health departments into 

the NWSS DCIPHER platform. Finally, 

health department jurisdictions using 

the sewershed spatial files will develop 

a line list of COVID–19 cases who reside 

within the participating wastewater 

utility service areas. The health 

department jurisdiction will submit to 

CDC, the line list of COVID–19 cases 

using a CSV bulk upload template into 

the DCIPHER NWSS platform. 

The proposed data collection will 

occur over three years. The data 

collection involves three data 

components: (1) SARS–CoV–2 

wastewater data, (2) spatial files of the 

wastewater utility service area (referred 

to as sewersheds), and (3) COVID–19 

sewershed case data. Based on pilot data 

collection, it is expected that 64,480 

wastewater samples, 620 spatial files, 

and 1,550,000 COVID–19 sewershed 

cases will be collected and reported to 

NWSS each year. This will lead to a 

total annual burden of 238,089 hours 

(107,682 hours for wastewater data, 

1,240 hours for spatial files, and 129,167 

hours for COVID–19 sewershed case 

data). There is no cost to respondents 

other than their time. 

ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS

Type of respondents Form name Number of 

respondents 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

Average 

burden 

per response 

(in hours) 

Total burden 

(in hours) 

State, tribal, local, territorial health 

department staff.

National Wastewater Surveillance 

System: SARS–CoV–2 wastewater data collection.

64,480 2,080 100/60 107,682 

State, tribal, local, territorial health 

department staff; Wastewater utility staff.

No form; provision of sewershed 

spatial files.

620 20 2 1,240 

State, tribal, local, territorial health 

department staff.

National Wastewater Surveillance 

System: COVID–19 sewershed 

case data collection.

1,550,000 50,000 5/60 129,167 

Total ........................................... .......................................................... ........................ ........................ ........................ 238,089 

Jeffrey M. Zirger, 

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, 

Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2021–19160 Filed 9–3–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

[60Day–21–21HU; Docket No. CDC–2021– 

0093] 

Proposed Data Collection Submitted 

for Public Comment and 

Recommendations 

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC), Department of Health 

and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Notice with comment period. 

SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of 

its continuing effort to reduce public 

burden and maximize the utility of 

government information, invites the 

general public and other Federal 

agencies the opportunity to comment on 

a proposed and/or continuing 

information collection, as required by 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

This notice invites comment on a 

proposed information collection project 

titled HIV Prevention Capacity 

Development Needs Assessments of 

Federally funded Health Departments 

and Community-Based Organizations. 

This data collection seeks to understand 

the training and technical assistance 

needs of federally funded health 

departments and community-based 

organizations by improving the 

performance of the HIV prevention 

workforce. 

DATES: CDC must receive written 

comments on or before November 8, 

2021. 


sradovich on DSKJLST7X2PROD with NOTICES