Document ID: EPA-HQ-OECA-2006-0931-0006
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Performance Evaluation Studies on Water and Wastewater Laboratories (Renewal); EPA ICR No. 0234.09, OMB Control No. 2080-0021
Posted Date: 2007-05-11T04:00Z

[Federal Register: May 11, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 91)]
[Notices]               
[Page 26811-26812]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11my07-50]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OECA-2006-0931; FRL-8313-5]

 
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Comment Request; Performance Evaluation Studies on 
Water and Wastewater Laboratories (Renewal); EPA ICR No. 0234.09, OMB 
Control No. 2080-0021

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)(44 U.S.C. 
3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection 
Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing 
approved collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the 
nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before June 11, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-
2006-0931 to (1) EPA online using http://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), by e-mail to docket.oeca@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket 

Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Enforcement and Compliance 
Docket and Information Center, Mail Code: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB by mail to: Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Yellin, Office of Compliance, 
Agriculture Division, Laboratory Data Integrity Branch, 2225A, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-2970; fax number: 202-
564-0029, e-mail address: yellin.patrick@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB 
for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 
1320.12. On January 3, 2007 (72 FR 130), EPA sought comments on this 
ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA published a second notice on 
January 22, 2007 (72 FR 2684), to make a correction to the first 
notice. EPA received 1 comment during the comment period, which is 
addressed in the ICR. Any additional comments on this ICR should be 
submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days of this notice.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OECA-2006-0931, which is available for online viewing at 
http://www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the Enforcement and 

Compliance Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA/DC Public 
Reading Room is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is 
202-566-1744, and the telephone number for the Enforcement and 
Compliance Docket is 202-566-1752.
    Use EPA's electronic docket and comment system at 
http://www.regulations.gov, to submit or view public comments, access the 

index listing of the contents of the docket, and to access those 
documents in the docket that are available electronically. Once in the 
system, select ``docket search,'' then key in the docket ID number 
identified above. Please note that EPA's policy is that public 
comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made 
available for public viewing at http://www.regulations.gov as EPA receives 

them and without change, unless the comment contains copyrighted 
material, CBI, or other information whose public disclosure is 
restricted by statute. For further information about the electronic 
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

    Title: Performance Evaluation Studies on Water and Wastewater 
Laboratories (Renewal).
    ICR numbers: EPA ICR No. 0234.09, OMB Control No. 2080-0021.
    ICR Status: This ICR is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2007. Under 
OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the 
collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. 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. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations 
in title 40 of the CFR, after appearing in the Federal Register when 
approved, are listed in 40 CFR part 9, are displayed either by 
publication in the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, such 
as on the related collection instrument or form, if applicable. The 
display of OMB control numbers in certain EPA regulations is 
consolidated in 40 CFR Part 9.
    Abstract: Discharge Monitoring Report-Quality Assurance (DMR-QA) 
participation is mandatory for major and selected minor permit holders 
under the Clean Water Act's National Pollution Discharge Elimination 
System (NPDES), Section 308. The DMR-QA study is designed to evaluate 
the entire process used by permittees to routinely report monitoring 
results in Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs). The study addresses the 
analytic ability of the laboratories that perform chemical, 
microbiological and whole effluent toxicity (WET) analyses required in 
the NPDES permits and the ability to properly report these results in 
the DMRs. Under DMR-QA, the permit holder is responsible for obtaining 
un-graded results of analyses of test samples performed by in-house 
and/or contract laboratories, and submitting these results to the 
appropriate federal or state NPDES regulatory authority and the 
commercial proficiency testing (PT) provider that supplies the test 
samples. Permit holders are responsible for submitting corrective 
action reports to the appropriate regulatory authority.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 6.3 
hours per response. Burden means the total time,

[[Page 26812]]

effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, 
maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a 
Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; 
develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the 
purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying information, 
processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing 
information; adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously 
applicable instructions and requirements which have subsequently 
changed; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of 
information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of 
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: Respondents in DMR-QA studies are 
NPDES permittees designated by the EPA region or state with permitting 
responsibility and the laboratories doing whole-effluent toxicity 
testing for these major dischargers. These respondents are most likely 
from the following SIC Codes: 2011--through 3999--Manufacturers; 4941--
Water supply systems; 4952--Sewerage systems; 8734--Water testing 
laboratories.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 7516.
    Frequency of Response: Once annually.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 47,351 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $2,494,260, includes $1,240,140 
annualized O&M costs and $1,254,120 annual labor costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 132,984 hours in 
the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of 
Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease is primarily due to the fact that 
this renewal ICR does not include burden associated with the Water 
Pollution and Water Supply studies that were covered under the previous 
ICR. Some of this decrease was offset by a slight increase in the 
number of respondents, burden hours and costs for the DMR-QA study

    Dated: May 1, 2007.
Sara Hisel McCoy,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
 [FR Doc. E7-9113 Filed 5-10-07; 8:45 am]

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