Document ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2020-0433-0003
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Public Notification Requirements for Combined Sewer Overflows in the Great Lakes Basin
Posted Date: 2021-02-24T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11285-11286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-03794]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2020-0433; FRL-10020-75-OMS]

Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Public Notification Requirements for 
Combined Sewer Overflows in the Great Lakes Basin (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), Public Notification Requirements 
for Combined Sewer Overflows in the Great Lakes Basin (EPA ICR Number 
2562.03, OMB Control Number 2040-0293) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (PRA). This is a proposed extension of the ICR which is 
currently approved through April 30, 2021. Public comments were 
previously requested via the Federal Register on September 2, 2020 
during a 60-day comment period. 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 March 26, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to EPA, referencing Docket ID Number 
EPA-HQ-OW-2020-0433, online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred 
method), by email to [email protected], 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: Joshua Baehr, National Program Branch, 
Water Permits Division, OWM Mail Code: 4203M, Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1201 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
number: (202) 564-2277; email address: Baehr.Joshua@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supporting documents, which explain in 
detail the information that the EPA will be collecting, are available 
in the public docket for this ICR. 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: This ICR calculates the incremental increase in burden 
and costs associated with implementation of the Combined Sewer Overflow 
(CSO) public notification requirements for CSO permittees in the Great 
Lakes Basin approved during the Public Notice Requirements for Combined 
Sewer Overflow Discharges to the Great Lakes rulemaking. In 2018, EPA 
established public notification requirements for permittees authorized 
to discharge from a CSO to the Great Lakes Basin [83 FR 712]. These 
requirements address: (1) Signage; (2) notification to local public 
health department and other potentially affected public entities; (3) 
notification to the public; and (4) annual notice. Additionally, 
permittees are required to develop a public notification plan and seek 
and consider input on these plans from local public health departments 
and other potentially affected public entities. The public notification 
plans also provide state permit writers with detailed information 
needed to write permit conditions. The rule protects public health by 
ensuring timely notification to the public and to public health 
departments, public water systems and other potentially affected public 
entities, including Indian tribes. It provides additional specificity 
beyond existing public notification requirements to ensure timely and 
consistent communication to the public regarding CSO discharges to the 
Great Lakes Basin. Timely notice may allow the public and affected 
public entities to take steps to reduce the public's potential exposure 
to pathogens associated with human sewage, which can cause a wide 
variety of health effects, including gastrointestinal, skin, ear, 
respiratory, eye, neurological, and wound infections.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: CSO permittees in the Great Lakes 
Basin, Great Lakes States (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin).
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory. 40 CFR 122.38.
    Estimated number of respondents: 164 (157 permittees and 7 States).
    Frequency of response: Responses include one-time implementation 
activities, such as signage, activities that occur once per year, such 
as providing annual notice, and initial and follow-up activities that 
would occur during and after CSO discharge events.
    Total estimated burden: 8,694 hours (per year). Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $426,059 (per year), includes $5,412 in 
annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in Estimates: There is an estimated net decrease of 1,607 
burden hours since the prior approved ICR. The decrease in labor hours 
from the prior ICR is due to the completion of capital activities 
performed during startup performed during the prior ICR. Also, one 
permittee (Woodville, Ohio NPDES Permit No. OH0020591) separated the

[[Page 11286]]

city's combined sewer system and therefore, is no longer within the 
scope of the rule and this updated ICR. There was an increase in labor 
costs ($31,841) due to a projected increase in labor base wages and 
total compensation (i.e., benefits). There was a decrease in non-labor 
costs (-$65,038) due to a decrease in capital costs after the initial 
startup period of the prior ICR. Overall, total burden hours decreased 
by 1,607 hours and total burden cost decreased by $31,048 for the 
three-year period.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2021-03794 Filed 2-23-21; 8:45 am]
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