Notice2021-16089
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)
Primary source
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Published
July 28, 2021
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 142 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 142 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40562-40563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[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 <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> (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
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. 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: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e6889392948f838892cb94838b8990878acb959293829fa6839687c8818990"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e8869d9c9a818d869cc59a8d85879e8984c59b9c9d8c91a88d9889c68f879e">[email protected]</span></a>.
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
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> 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 <a href="http://www.epa.gov/dockets">http://www.epa.gov/dockets</a>.
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]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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