Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; National Pretreatment Program

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit the following continuing Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB): National Pretreatment Program (OMB Control No. 2040-0009; EPA ICR No. 0002.11), expiring 09/30/2003. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before June 2, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Follow the detailed instructions in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Tracy Hudak, Office of Water, Office of Wastewater Management, Water Permits Division, Mail code: 4203M, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-0651; fax number: 202-564-6431; email address: hudak.tracy@epamail.epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID number OW-2003-0009, which is available for public viewing at the Office of Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 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 Office of Water Docket is (202) 566-2426. An electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use EDOCKET to obtain a copy of the draft collection of information, submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, select “search,” then key in the docket ID number identified above.

Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA within 60 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed instructions: (1) Submit your comments to EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method); (2) by email to OW-Docket@epamail.epa.gov; or, (3) by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water Docket, Mail code: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.

EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to www.epa.gov/edocket.

Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are those subject to the regulations under 40 CFR part 403, including private industries and State, local and Federal governments.

Title: National Pretreatment Program (OMB Control Number 2040-0009; EPA ICR Number 0002.11), expiring 09/30/2003.

Abstract: This Information Collection Request (ICR) calculates the burden and costs associated with managing the National Pretreatment Program, mandated by sections 402(a) and (b) and 307(b) of the Clean Water Act. This ICR is a renewal of the Revision of the Information Collection Request for the National Pretreatment Program (OMB Control No. 2040-009, EPA ICR No. 0002.09).

EPA's Office of Wastewater Management (OWM) in the Office of Water (OW) is responsible for the management of the pretreatment program. The Clean Water Act requires EPA to develop national pretreatment standards to control discharges from Industrial Users (IUs) into Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs). These standards limit the level of certain pollutants allowed in non-domestic wastewater that is discharged to a POTW. EPA administers the pretreatment program through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. Under the NPDES permit program, EPA may approve State or individual POTW implementation of the pretreatment standards at their respective levels. Data collected from IUs during implementation of the pretreatment program include the mass, frequency, and content of IU discharges and IU schedules for installing pretreatment equipment. Data also include actual or anticipated IU discharges of wastes that violate pretreatment standards, have the potential to cause problems at the POTW, or are considered hazardous under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). OWM uses the data collected under the pretreatment program to monitor and enforce compliance with the pretreatment regulations, as well as to authorize program administration at the State or local (POTW) level. States and POTWs applying for approval of their pretreatment programs submit data concerning their legal, procedural, and administrative bases for establishing such programs. This information may include surveys of IUs, local limits for pollutant concentrations, and schedules for completion of major project requirements. IUs and POTWs submit written reports to the approved state or EPA. These data may then be entered into the NPDES databases by the approved state or by EPA.

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 are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15.

The EPA would like to solicit comments to:

(i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(ii) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

(iii) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

(iv) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Burden Statement: The information collection would involve an estimated 32,675 respondents at an annual cost of $95,126,953 to those respondents. The total annual cost to both respondents and government (excluding Federal government) is estimated at $99,022,998. The annual number of responses would be 248,539 or 7.61 responses per respondent. The time required for a response ranges from 15 minutes to 400 hours, with an average response time of approximately 10.0 hours per year. An estimated 32,675 respondents would be required to keep records at an average annual burden of 6.80 hours per record keeper. The pretreatment program would entail 222,217 hours of record keeping, 2,107,586 hours of reporting, 114,706 hours for government (excluding Federal government) administration and 11,262 hours for EPA as users of the data, for a total of 2,485,770 burden hours at a cost of $99,387,774. Burden means the total time, 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; 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.