Notice2023-03426
Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 6-Nominations
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 17, 2023
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting nominations of chemicals, microbes, or other substances that are not currently regulated in drinking water for possible inclusion on the Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 6). EPA requests that nominations include information showing the nominated contaminant is known or anticipated to occur in public water systems and indicating the nominated contaminant may have an adverse health effect on humans.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 33 (Friday, February 17, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 33 (Friday, February 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10316-10318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03426]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0946; FRL-10625-01-OW]
Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 6--Nominations
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting
nominations of chemicals, microbes, or other substances that are not
currently regulated in drinking water for possible inclusion on the
Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 6). EPA requests that nominations
include information showing the nominated contaminant is known or
anticipated to occur in public water systems and indicating the
nominated contaminant may have an adverse health effect on humans.
DATES: Nominations must be received on or before April 18, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may send nomination comments, identified by Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0946, by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a>
(our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
<bullet> Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket
Center,
[[Page 10317]]
Water Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20460.
<bullet> Hand Delivery or Courier: EPA Docket Center, WJC West
Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004.
The Docket Center's hours of operations are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday (except Federal Holidays).
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID
No. for this notice. Nominations received may be posted without change
to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a>, including any personal information
provided. For detailed instructions on sending nominations and
additional information on the process, see the ``Public Participation''
heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Lombardi, Office of Ground
Water and Drinking Water, Standards and Risk Management Division,
Environmental Protection Agency; (202) 564-7653;
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#88e4e7e5eae9faece1a6fce0e7e5e9fbc8edf8e9a6efe7fe"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0d6162606f6c7f696423796562606c7e4d687d6c236a627b">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Public Participation
A. Written Comments
Submit your nomination comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OW-2022-0946, at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> (our preferred method),
or the other methods identified in the ADDRESSES section. Once
submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from the docket. EPA
may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit to
EPA's docket at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> any information you
consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI), Proprietary
Business Information (PBI), or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must
be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered
the official comment and should include discussion of all points you
wish to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment
contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web,
cloud, or other file sharing system). Please visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a> for additional submission methods; the
full EPA public comment policy; information about CBI, PBI, or
multimedia submissions; and general guidance on making effective
comments.
II. General Information
A. Does this action impose any requirements on public water systems?
This notice does not impose any requirements on anyone; it only
requests nominations for the drinking water Contaminant Candidate List
(CCL) and provides information on how the public can submit nominations
to the EPA.
B. What is the Contaminant Candidate List?
The CCL is a list of contaminants that are currently not subject to
any proposed or promulgated national primary drinking water
regulations, that are known or anticipated to occur in public water
systems, and which may require regulation under the Safe Drinking Water
Act (SDWA). EPA uses this list of unregulated contaminants to
prioritize research and data collection efforts to help the agency
determine whether to regulate a specific contaminant. The SDWA requires
that EPA publish the CCL every five years (SWDA section 1412(b)(1)).
EPA is also required to consult with the scientific community,
including the Science Advisory Board, and provide notice and
opportunity for public comment prior to publication of the final CCL.
The SDWA also requires EPA to make regulatory determinations of
whether or not to regulate no fewer than five contaminants from the CCL
every five years. Section 1412(b)(1)(A) of the SDWA specifies that in
making a determination to regulate a contaminant, it must be determined
that:
1. The contaminant may have an adverse effect on human health;
2. The contaminant is known to occur, or there is a substantial
likelihood that the contaminant will occur, in public water systems
with a frequency and at levels of public health concern; and
3. In the sole judgement of the EPA Administrator, regulation of
the contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk
reduction for persons served by public water systems.
For additional information on the CCL and Regulatory Determination,
visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ccl">https://www.epa.gov/ccl</a>.
C. What contaminants were listed on the previous Contaminant Candidate
List?
The Fifth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 5) was published on
November 14, 2022 (87 FR 68060), and includes 66 chemicals, 3 chemical
groups (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), cyanotoxins, and
disinfection byproducts (DBPs)), and 12 microbes, which were selected
from a universe of chemicals used in commerce, pesticides, biological
toxins, disinfection byproducts, and waterborne pathogens. The list of
contaminants included on the CCL 5, can be found at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ccl/contaminant-candidate-list-5-ccl-5">https://www.epa.gov/ccl/contaminant-candidate-list-5-ccl-5</a> and in the Federal
Register publication for the CCL 5 (November 14, 2022, 87 FR 68060,
USEPA, 2022).
D. Why is EPA soliciting drinking water contaminant nominations?
EPA is conducting an evaluation of potential contaminants for
inclusion on the CCL 6. EPA requests public nominations for
contaminants that are not currently regulated in drinking water to
ensure a broad consideration of potential contaminants. Both the
National Academy of Sciences (NAS, 2001) and National Drinking Water
Advisory Council (NDWAC, 2004) recommended that CCL be a data-driven,
step wise approach to classifying drinking water contaminants. These
advisors also recognized the importance of providing a pathway for
public participation in the CCL process. The public nomination process
allows EPA to consider new and emerging contaminants that might not
otherwise be considered because new information may exist that EPA is
unaware of and/or the information may not have been widely reported or
recorded.
III. The CCL Nominations Process
The contaminant nominations process provides the public with the
opportunity to identify potential drinking water contaminants and
provide relevant data for EPA to consider for developing the CCL 6. In
the future, EPA will also accept information following publication of
the Draft CCL 6 for public comment.
A. How can stakeholders, agencies, organizations, and the public
nominate drinking water contaminants for the CCL 6?
Interested parties can nominate chemicals, microbes, or other
substances for consideration on the CCL 6 by sending information
electronically through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, by mail, or by hand
delivery (see the ADDRESSES section of this notice). Do not submit
confidential business information (CBI) to EPA through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> or by email. Submit nomination comments that
contain CBI only by mail or hand delivery, and clearly mark the part of
or all the information that you claim to be CBI. In addition to one
complete version
[[Page 10318]]
of the comment that includes information claimed as CBI, a non-CBI copy
of the comment that does not contain the information claimed as CBI
must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket. Information
marked accordingly will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures shown in 40 CFR part 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
When submitting a nomination, EPA prefers the nominator include a
name, affiliation, phone number, mailing address, and email address;
however, this information is not required, and nominations can be
submitted anonymously. The nominator should also address the following
questions for each nominated contaminant:
1. What is the nominated contaminant's name, CAS Registry Number
(CAS RN) or DSSTox substance identifier (DTXSID), and/or common synonym
(if applicable)? Note--please do not nominate a contaminant already
subject to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs)
(see the current list at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations">https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations</a>).
2. What are the data you believe support the conclusion that the
nominated contaminant is known or anticipated to occur in public water
systems? For example, provide information that shows measured
occurrence of the contaminant in drinking water, measured occurrence in
sources of drinking water that provide water to public drinking water
systems, measured occurrence in other water types (i.e., ambient water
(rivers, lakes, or streams) groundwater, wastewater, stormwater, or
urban runoff) or provide information that shows the contaminant is
released in the environment or is manufactured in large quantities and
has the potential for contaminating sources of public drinking water.
Please provide the source of the information with complete citations
for published information (i.e., author(s), title, journal, and date)
and/or contact information for the primary investigator. Additionally,
please provide original supporting or supplemental information files
relevant to the published information (i.e., data tables, data sets, or
data files, etc).
3. What new health effects data are available which you believe
supports the conclusion that a contaminant may have an adverse effect
on the health of humans? For example, provide information that shows
the contaminant may have an adverse health effect on the general
population or that the contaminant is potentially harmful to subgroups
that comprise a meaningful portion of the population (such as children,
pregnant women, the elderly, individuals with a history of serious
illness, individuals living in disadvantaged communities with known
occurrence of emerging contaminants in their public water systems, or
others). Please provide the source of this information with complete
citations for published information (i.e., author(s), title, journal,
and date) and/or contact information for the primary investigator.
Additionally, please provide original supporting or supplemental
information files relevant to the published information (i.e., data
tables, data sets, or data files, etc).
B. How do I submit nominations in hard copy?
You may submit contaminant nominations by mail or hand delivery. To
allow full consideration, please ensure that your nominations are
received or postmarked by midnight on April 18, 2023. The address for
submittal of nominations by mail or hand delivery is listed in the
ADDRESSES section of this notice.
C. What will happen to my nominations after I submit them?
EPA will evaluate the information available for all publicly
nominated drinking water contaminants to determine the appropriateness
of their inclusion on the CCL 6. EPA does not intend to respond to the
nomination comments directly or individually. EPA will summarize the
nominations received when the Draft CCL 6 document is published in the
Federal Register.
IV. References
National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC). 2004. National
Drinking Water Advisory Council Report on the CCL Classification
Process to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Available on
the internet at: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-11/documents/report_ccl_ndwac_07-06-04.pdf">https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-11/documents/report_ccl_ndwac_07-06-04.pdf</a>.
National Research Council (NRC). 2001. Classifying Drinking Water
Contaminants for Regulatory Consideration. National Academy Press.
Washington, DC. Available on the internet at <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10080/chapter/1">https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10080/chapter/1</a>.
USEPA. 2022. Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 5-Final.
Federal Register. Vol. 87, No. 318, pp. 68060--68085. November 14,
2022. EPA Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0594.
Radhika Fox,
Assistant Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2023-03426 Filed 2-16-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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