Document ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0404-0085
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: National Study of Nutrient Removal and Secondary Technologies: Publicly Owned Treatment Works Screener Questionnaire
Posted Date: 2021-07-28T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 142 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40562-40563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16089]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0404; FRL-8801-01-OMS]

Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; National Study of Nutrient Removal and 
Secondary Technologies: Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) Screener 
Questionnaire (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), National Study of Nutrient 
Removal and Secondary Technologies: Publicly Owned Treatment Works 
(POTW) Screener Questionnaire (EPA ICR Number 2553.03, OMB Control 
Number 2040-0294) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. 
This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved 
through July 31, 2021. Public comments were previously requested via 
the Federal Register on February 24, 2021 during a 60-day comment 
period. No comments were received. This notice allows for an additional 
30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given 
below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. An agency 
may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before August 27, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2016-0404, online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), or 
by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail 
Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460. EPA's 
policy is that all comments received will be included in the public 
docket without change including any personal information provided, 
unless the comment includes profanity, threats, information claimed to 
be Confidential Business Information (CBI), or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute.
    Submit written comments and recommendations to OMB for the proposed 
information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Paul Shriner, Engineering and 
Analysis Division (4303T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-566-
1076; email address: nutrient-removal-study@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supporting documents are available in the 
public docket for this ICR that explain in detail the information that 
the EPA will be collecting. The docket can be viewed online at 
www.regulations.gov or in person at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West, 
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The telephone 
number for the Docket Center is 202-566-1744. For additional 
information about EPA's public docket, visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Abstract: Nutrient pollution remains the single greatest challenge 
to our Nation's water quality and presents a growing threat to public 
health and local economies--contributing to toxic harmful algal blooms, 
contamination of drinking water sources, and costly impacts on 
recreation, tourism and fisheries. The National Study of Nutrient 
Removal and Secondary Technologies, when completed, will provide a rich 
database of nutrient removal performance at secondary treatment POTWs 
nationwide, and will help POTWs understand the range of nutrient 
removal performance and identify opportunities to optimize nutrient 
removals based on data from their peers. It will also serve as a major 
new resource for stakeholders to evaluate the most cost-effective 
approaches to nutrient reduction at the watershed scale. EPA's Office 
of Water is collecting data to evaluate the nutrient removals and 
related technology performance of POTWs with conventional secondary 
treatment. Due to multiple delays, most notably postponements in 
fielding the screener questionnaire due to circumstances associated 
with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, EPA is proposing to renew the 
ICR for the screener questionnaire.
    The screener questionnaire is a one-time data collection that 
solicits basic facility identification, characterization, and technical 
information necessary to develop the future detailed questionnaire. 
Questions include those necessary to identify and stratify the universe 
of POTWs and, within that population, the secondary treatment POTWs not 
designed specifically to remove nitrogen and phosphorus. EPA would 
prepare a separate ICR for subsequent phases of the study.
    In this renewal EPA proposes three revisions to the currently 
approved screener questionnaire ICR and supporting statement. First, 
EPA has reduced the maximum number of respondents from 16,500 to 15,000 
reflecting survey responses already received as of October 30, 2020. 
Second, EPA has made minor clarifying edits to the survey questions 
such as providing additional examples of certain technology 
classifications. Third, EPA is revising the respondent burden 
estimates. The original average burden estimate assumed it would take 
one hour to complete the registration process and three hours to 
complete the full questionnaire. EPA reviewed start and end times 
associated with questionnaires submitted online and found that the 
average time to complete the long version of the online questionnaire 
was 1.1 hours and the time to complete the short version was 26 
minutes. EPA revised the average burden to 2.25 hours for the 
questionnaire and 15 minutes for registration (Questionnaire Section A) 
based on this information. EPA solicits comment on these proposed 
changes. A copy of the screener questionnaire is available at Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-

[[Page 40563]]

OW-2016-0404 as part of this request for comments.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: Approximately 15,000 POTWs that meet 
the definition under 40 CFR 403.3(q), 50 POTWs for site visits, and 100 
state and/or small municipal association contacts.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Voluntary.
    Estimated number of respondents: 12,000 (total).
    Frequency of response: One-time data collection.
    Total estimated burden: 8,747 hours (per year). Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $398,120 (per year), which includes $8,800 
annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in Estimates: There is decrease of approximately 41,000 
hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR 
currently approved by OMB. This decrease is due to screener 
questionnaire responses already received, reduced number of total 
respondents, and replacement of EPA's estimated respondent burdens with 
the actual time respondents took to complete the screener 
questionnaire.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2021-16089 Filed 7-27-21; 8:45 am]
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