[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 23, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65114-65115]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-26994]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7398-2]


Meetings of the Small Systems Affordability Working Group of the 
National Drinking Water Advisory Council

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

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SUMMARY: Under section 10(a)(2) of Pub. L. 92-423, ``The Federal 
Advisory Committee Act,'' notice is hereby given of the forthcoming 
meetings of the Small Systems Affordability Work Group, of the National 
Drinking Water Advisory Council, established under the Safe Drinking 
Water Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.).

DATES: The affordability work group will meet on November 7-8, 2002 (9 
a.m.-5:30 p.m. on November 7 and 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on November 8), 
then on December 18-19, 2002 (9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on December 18 and 8:30 
a.m.-3:30 p.m. on December 19), and again on January 13-14, 2003 (9 
a.m.-5:30 p.m. on January 13 and 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on January 14).

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at RESOLVE Inc., 1255 23rd Street, 
NW., Suite 275, Washington, DC and are open to the public, but from 
past experience, seating will likely be limited.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information on the location 
and times of these meetings, or general background information please 
contact the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (phone: 800-426-4791 or (703) 
285-1093; e-mail: [email protected]). Members of the public are 
requested to contact RESOLVE if they plan on attending at (202) 944-
2300. Any person needing special accommodations at either of these 
meetings, including wheelchair access, should contact RESOLVE (contact 
information previously noted), at least five business days before the 
meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made. For technical 
information contact Mr. Amit Kapadia, Designated Federal Officer, Small 
Systems Affordability Work Group, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Office of Ground Water and

[[Page 65115]]

Drinking Water (4607M), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20460 (e-mail: [email protected]; Tel: 202-564-4879).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of the 2002 appropriations process, 
Congress directed EPA to ``begin immediately to review the Agency's 
affordability criteria and how small system variance and exemption 
programs should be implemented for arsenic'' (Conference Report 107-
272, page 175). Congress further directed the Agency to prepare a 
report, which EPA submitted (Report to Congress: Small System Arsenic 
Implementation Issues: EPA 815-R-02-003), ``on its review of the 
affordability criteria and the administrative actions undertaken or 
planned to be undertaken by the Agency, as well as potential funding 
mechanisms for small community compliance and other legislative 
actions, which, if taken by the Congress, would best achieve 
appropriate extensions of time for small communities while also 
guaranteeing maximum compliance.'' (Conference Report 107-272, page 
175).
    In evaluating treatment technologies for small systems, EPA 
currently uses an affordability threshold of 2.5% of median household 
income. EPA's national-level affordability criteria consist of two 
major components: an expenditure baseline and an affordability 
threshold. The expenditure baseline (derived from annual median 
household water bills) is subtracted from the affordability threshold 
(a share of median household income that EPA believes to be a 
reasonable upper limit for these water bills) to determine the 
expenditure margin (the maximum increase in household water bills that 
can be imposed by treatment and still be considered affordable). EPA 
compares the cost of treatment technologies against the available 
expenditure margin to determine if an affordable compliance technology 
can be identified. If EPA cannot identify an affordable compliance 
technology, then it attempts to identify a variance technology. 
Findings must be made at both the Federal and State level that 
compliance technologies are not affordable for small systems before a 
variance can be granted.
    EPA is asking the NDWAC for advice on its national-level 
affordability criteria and the methodology used to establish these 
criteria. Taking into consideration the structure of the Safe Drinking 
Water Act and the limitations of readily available data and information 
sources, EPA is seeking the Council's opinion of the national level 
affordability criteria, methodology for deriving the criteria, and 
approach to applying those criteria to NPDWRs.
    As part of the Council's review of EPA's national-level 
affordability criteria, the Agency is seeking input on (1) the Agency's 
overall approach, (2) alternatives, if any, to the use of median 
household income as a metric, (3) alternatives, if any, to 2.5% as a 
metric, (4) alternatives, if any, to calculating the expenditure 
baseline, (5) the usefulness of a separate criteria for ground and 
surface water systems, (6) including an evaluation of the potential 
availability of financial assistance, and (7) the need for making 
affordability determinations on a regional basis. Other issue areas may 
also be discussed. The meeting is open to the public; statements from 
the public will be taken at the close of the meeting. EPA is not 
soliciting written comments and is not planning to formally respond to 
comments.
    This will be the third, fourth, and fifth work group meetings on 
this topic. At the first meeting held on September 11-12 , the work 
group was briefed by EPA on the approach to affordability taken by the 
Agency. At the first meeting, the work group also devised an approach 
to answer the Agency's charge questions. For the second work group 
meeting (to be held on October 21-22), other technical experts on 
financial assistance have been invited to speak. The purpose of these 
last three meetings is to continue the workgroup deliberations and to 
draft a report for the full National Drinking Water Advisory Council.

    Dated: October 17, 2002.
Cynthia C. Dougherty,
Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water.
[FR Doc. 02-26994 Filed 10-22-02; 8:45 am]
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