[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 31, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 75503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-32216]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7605-1]


Meetings of the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 
Classification Process Work 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 Public Law 92-423, ``The Federal 
Advisory Committee Act,'' notice is hereby given of the forthcoming 
meetings of the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) 
Classification Process Work Group of the National Drinking Water 
Advisory Council (NDWAC), established under the Safe Drinking Water 
Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.).

DATES: The dates for the NDWAC CCL Work Group meetings will be as 
follows: January 22-23, 2004; and March 4-5, 2004. All meetings will be 
held from 9 a.m.--5 p.m., eastern time on the first day, and 8 a.m.--
3:30 p.m., eastern time on the second day.

ADDRESSES: All meetings of the CCL Work Group will be held at RESOLVE 
Inc., 1255 23rd Street, NW., Suite 275, Washington, DC.

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) 
412-3330; e-mail: [email protected]).
    Notice will be given for any date change, or if additional meetings 
will be needed beyond the March meeting, as the Work Group proceeds 
through the year. Please contact RESOLVE at (202) 944-2300 if you plan 
to attend any of the meetings listed. Any person needing special 
accommodations at any of these meetings, including wheelchair access, 
should also contact RESOLVE at least five business days before the 
meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made. For technical 
information, please contact Dr. Jitendra Saxena, Designated Federal 
Officer, CCL Classification Process Work Group, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (4607M), 
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460 (e-mail: 
[email protected]; phone: (202) 564-5243).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CCL serves as the primary source of 
priority contaminants for research and regulatory evaluations for the 
Agency's drinking water program. The CCL list is comprised of both 
chemical and microbial contaminants that are known or anticipated to 
occur in public water systems, that may have adverse health effects, 
and which, at the time of publication, are not subject to any proposed 
or promulgated national primary drinking water regulations. EPA has 
formed a CCL Classification Process Work Group of the National Drinking 
Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) to help the Agency in developing a new 
risk based priority setting process based on the recommendations made 
by the National Research Council (NRC) in its 2001 report.
    The Work Group is comprised of 21 recognized technical experts who 
represent an array of backgrounds and perspectives and who are as 
impartial and objective as possible. The Work Group is charged with 
discussing, evaluating, and providing advice on methodologies, 
activities, and analysis needed to implement the NRC recommendations on 
an expanded approach for the CCL listing process. This may include 
advice on developing and identifying (1) an overall implementation 
strategy; (2) prototype classification methodology, classification 
attributes and criteria that should be used; (3) pilot projects to 
validate new classification approaches; (4) demonstration studies that 
explore the feasibility of the VFAR (Virulance-Factor Activity 
Relationships) approach; (5) risk communication issues; and (6) 
additional issues not addressed in the NRC report.
    The Work Group has held eight meetings thus far: September 18-19, 
2002; December 16-17, 2002; February 5-6, 2003; March 27-28, 2003; May 
12-13, 2003; July 16-17, 2003; September 17-18, 2003; and November 13-
14, 2003. The September 2002 meeting was devoted to gaining 
understanding of the NRC recommendations from the invited members of 
the NRC panel; identifying questions, issues and technical expertise 
needed to fulfill its charge; and, planning next steps. During 
subsequent meetings, the Work Group formed activity groups for small 
group discussions, with each group containing four to eight members; 
the activity groups then report back to the plenary Work Group. Each 
activity group holds several conference calls for more detailed group 
discussions in between the meetings on issues that the plenary Work 
Group is addressing. The Work Group has discussed methods applicable to 
contaminant classification and prioritization, occurrence and health 
effects data needed for this purpose, sources and quality of data 
needed, and the use of QSAR (Quantitative Structure Activity 
Relationships) models for providing data when experimental data is 
unavailable. In addition, the Work Group has held discussions about the 
VFAR concept and how the concept can be used for identifying high 
priority microbial contaminants. The Work Group has developed the 
groups's guiding principles, project work plan, and a tentative final 
report outline.
    The meetings are open to the public for observation purposes only. 
Statements from the public will be allowed at the close of each meeting 
day. EPA is not soliciting written comments and is not planning to 
formally respond to comments.

Nanci E. Gelb,
Acting Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water.
[FR Doc. 03-32216 Filed 12-30-03; 8:45 am]
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