[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 160 (Tuesday, August 19, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49769-49770]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21185]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OW-2003-0027; FRL-7545-7]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Comment Request; State Water Quality Program 
Management Resource (Gap) Analysis, EPA ICR Number 1945.02, OMB Control 
Number 2040-0216

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection 
Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing 
approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on September 30, 
2003. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or 
sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending 
at OMB. This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and 
its estimated burden and cost.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before September 18, 
2003.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OW-2003-
0027, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail 
to [email protected], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Water Docket, Mail Code: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB at: Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB),

[[Page 49770]]

Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane Ephremides, Resources Management 
and Evaluation Staff, Office of Wastewater Management, Office of Water, 
Mail Code: 4201M , Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-0643; fax 
number: (202) 301-2399; e-mail address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB 
for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 
1320.12. On May 8, 2003 (68 FR 24374), EPA sought comments on this ICR 
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. OW-2003-0027, which is available for public viewing at the 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 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 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 and OMB 
within 30 days of this notice. 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.
    Title: State Water Quality Program Management Resource (Gap) 
Analysis.
    Abstract: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership 
with States, is conducting this voluntary State Water Quality 
Management Resource Analysis (Gap Analysis) to help enumerate current 
and future funding needs and to help identify innovative strategies for 
reducing resource gaps. To gather preliminary information in a short 
time frame, the Gap Analysis was originally divided into two phases. 
Phase I consisted of the development of an initial, national estimate 
of the resource gap faced by water quality management programs to 
provide a general idea of the magnitude of the resource gap faced by 
States.
    Phase II of the Gap Analysis involved developing a detailed, 
activity-based workload model to provide a common framework and 
consistent methodology for States and EPA to estimate the cost to the 
States to meet the objectives of the Clean Water Act (CWA) over the 
next five years. In order to complete the model, EPA's Office of 
Wastewater Management (OWM) gathered data from 21 States on current and 
future resources needed for water quality management activities.
    Phase III of the Gap Analysis will build upon the information 
collected in Phase II, which used an estimate of current State 
expenditures on water quality activities. Under Phase III, States will 
complete a portion of the Phase II modules to update the needs numbers 
to reflect regulatory changes or changes to their programs. In 
addition, States will be asked to complete an activity-based model for 
current expenditures that mirrors the model for needs. This baseline 
spending data will allow the States and EPA to more accurately estimate 
the gap between expenditures and needed resources.
    Phase III of the Gap Analysis is a one-time collection effort by 
OWM, and responses to this information collection request (ICR) are 
voluntary. The collection is necessary to develop an estimate of the 
gap in resources facing water quality management programs, both for 
individual States and the nation.
    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 in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are identified on 
the form and/or instrument, if applicable.
    Burden Statement: EPA estimates the burden to be 61 hours per 
respondent for each respondent that chooses to submit information.
    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.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: State water quality management 
programs.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 20.
    Frequency of Response: One time.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 1207.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $37,648, includes $0 annualized 
capital or O&M costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 2396 hours in the 
total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of 
Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease is a result of a different phase of 
a voluntary, one-time information collection and is due to changes in 
program requirements and an adjustment to the original estimates.

    Dated: August 12, 2003.
Doreen Sterling,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 03-21185 Filed 8-18-03; 8:45 am]
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