[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 2, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31068-31070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-12300]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 141

[OW-2003-0067; FRL-7669-1]
RIN 2040-AE62


National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Analytical Method 
for Uranium

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve the use of three additional 
analytical methods for compliance determinations of uranium in drinking 
water. Each of these methods use an inductively coupled plasma mass 
spectrometry (ICP-MS) technology that has gained wide acceptance in the 
analytical community. EPA believes that ICP-MS analytical methods could 
be more cost-effective, less labor-intensive or more sensitive than 
some of the technologies previously approved in the December 2000 
Radionuclides Rule. (65 FR 76708) This proposed rule does not withdraw 
approval of any previously approved monitoring methods for uranium.
    In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of the Federal Register, 
we are approving National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: 
Analytical Method for Uranium as a direct final rule without prior 
proposal because we view this as a noncontroversial rulemaking and 
anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our reasons for this 
approval in the preamble to the direct final rule. If we receive no 
adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule. 
If we receive adverse comment, we will withdraw the direct final rule 
and it will not take effect. We will address all public comments in a 
subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. We will not 
institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties 
interested in commenting must do so at this time.
    Through this proposal, EPA requests comment on whether approval of 
the ICP-MS methods published by EPA, American Society for Testing and 
Materials International (ASTM), and the Standard Methods Committee (EPA 
200.8, ASTM D5673-03, and SM 3125), is appropriate for compliance 
determinations of uranium in drinking water only. Readers should please 
note that EPA is not requesting comment on any other use of these three 
ICP-MS methods, use of any other ICP-MS method, or any issue associated 
with the uranium standard or its implementation, and EPA will not 
respond to any comments other than those concerning the approval of 
these specific methods (as cited) for compliance determinations of 
uranium in drinking water. Today's action does not affect approval of 
the 15 methods currently approved for compliance monitoring of uranium.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 2, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. OW-2003-
0067, by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
     Agency Website: http://www.epa.gov/edocket. EDOCKET, EPA's 
electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method 
for receiving comments. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Mail: OW Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460. 
Please include a total of 4 copies.
     Hand Delivery: OW Docket, EPA Docket Center, EPA/DC, EPA 
West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Such 
deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of 
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of 
boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. OW-2003-0067. 
EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the 
public docket without change and may be made available online at http://www.epa.gov/edocket, including any personal information provided, 
unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to 
be CBI or otherwise protected through EDOCKET, regulations.gov, or e-
mail. The EPA EDOCKET and the federal regulations.gov Web sites are 
``anonymous access'' systems, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket visit EDOCKET on-line or see the Federal Register of May 31, 
2002 (67 FR 38102).
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the EDOCKET index 
at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other

[[Page 31069]]

material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet 
and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly 
available docket materials are available either electronically in 
EDOCKET or in hard copy at the OW Docket, EPA Docket Center, EPA/DC, 
EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. This 
Docket Facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket telephone number is (202) 
566-2426. The 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 Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General Information--Lisa Christ, 
Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Mailcode: 4606M, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-8354; e-mail address: 
[email protected], Technical information--David Huber, Office of 
Ground Water and Drinking Water, Mailcode: 4606M, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 20460; 
telephone number: (202) 564-4878; e-mail address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Does This Action Apply to Me?

    Entities potentially regulated by this regulation are public water 
systems that are classified as community water systems (CWSs). A 
community water system (CWS) means a public water system which serves 
at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or 
regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents. Categories and 
entities potentially regulated by this action include the following:

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                                     Examples of potentially
             Category                   regulated entities      NAICS\1\
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Industry..........................  Privately-owned community     221310
                                     water systems.
State, Tribal, Local, and Federal   Publicly-owned community     924110
 Government.                         water systems.
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\1\ National American Industry Classification System.

    This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a 
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by this 
action. This table lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware 
could potentially be regulated by this action. Other types of entities 
not listed in the table could also be regulated. To determine whether 
your facility is regulated by this action, you should carefully examine 
the applicability criteria in Sec.  141.66 of title 40 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations. If you have questions regarding the applicability 
of this action to a particular entity, consult the person listed in the 
preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

II. What Is EPA's Statutory Authority and Background for This Proposed 
Rule?

    The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires 
EPA to promulgate national primary drinking water regulations (NPDWRs) 
which specify maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) or treatment techniques 
for drinking water contaminants (SDWA section 1412 (42 U.S.C. 300g-1)). 
NPDWRs apply to public water systems pursuant to SDWA section 1401 (42 
U.S.C. 300f(1)(A)). According to SDWA section 1401(1)(D), NPDWRs 
include ``criteria and procedures to assure a supply of drinking water 
which dependably complies with such maximum contaminant levels; 
including accepted methods for quality control and testing 
procedures.'' In addition, SDWA section 1445(a) authorizes the 
Administrator to establish regulations for monitoring to assist in 
determining whether persons are acting in compliance with the 
requirements of the SDWA. EPA's promulgation of analytical methods is 
authorized under these sections of the SDWA, as well as the general 
rulemaking authority in SDWA section 1450(a), (42 U.S.C. 300j-9(a)). As 
discussed earlier in part I.A of this preamble, the action proposed 
herein would affect CWSs. CWSs are a subset of public water systems. 
(40 CFR 141.2).
    On December 7, 2000 (65 FR 76708), EPA published a final 
Radionuclides Rule in the Federal Register that included monitoring 
requirements and a MCL of 30 micrograms per liter (30 [mu]g/L) for 
uranium that took effect in December 2003. In the preamble to the 
December 2000 rule, EPA noted that several commenters asked EPA to 
consider the approval of compliance monitoring methods that use an 
inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) technology. (65 
FR 76724) These commenters suggested that ICP-MS analytical methods 
could be more cost-effective, less labor-intensive or more sensitive 
than some of the technologies approved in the December 2000 rule. In 
response to these comments, EPA stated that the Agency was reviewing 
ICP-MS technology for possible proposal in a future rulemaking. EPA has 
completed this review and in today's proposed rule is proposing 
approval of three methods that use ICP-MS technology. The methods are 
equivalent and published by EPA, ASTM International, and the Standard 
Methods (SM) Committee. The methods are EPA 200.8, ASTM D5673-03, and 
SM 3125.

III. What is EPA Doing Today?

    EPA is proposing to approve the use of the ICP-MS methods published 
by EPA, ASTM International, and the Standard Methods Committee (EPA 
200.8, ASTM D5673-03, and SM 3125) for compliance determinations of 
uranium in drinking water. For further information regarding these 
methods, please see the information provided in the direct final action 
located in the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal 
Register publication.
    For the various statutes and executive orders that require findings 
for rule making, EPA incorporates the findings from the direct final 
rule into this companion proposal for the purpose of providing public 
notice and opportunity for comment.

IV. Summary of ICP-MS Technology

    EPA reviewed ICP-MS methods published by EPA, ASTM International, 
and the Standard Methods Committee. In each of these methods, sample 
material in solution is introduced by pneumatic nebulization into a 
radiofrequency plasma where energy transfer processes cause 
desolvation, atomization and ionization. The ions are extracted from 
the plasma through a differentially pumped vacuum interface and 
separated on the basis of their mass-to-charge ratio by a quadrupole 
mass spectrometer having a minimum resolution capability of one atomic 
mass unit peak width at five percent peak height. The ions transmitted 
through the quadrupole are detected by an electron multiplier or 
Faraday detector and the ion information processed by a data handling 
system. The sensitivity of each ICP-MS method for compliance

[[Page 31070]]

determinations of uranium in drinking water is acceptable and is 
sensitive enough to detect at less than one part per billion (1 ug/L). 
The uranium MCL is 30 ug/L.
    EPA reviewed each of these methods for performance and 
applicability to compliance determinations of uranium in drinking 
water. Three of these methods, EPA 200.8, ASTM D5673-03, and SM 3125, 
have acceptable performance and are otherwise suitable for compliance 
determinations of uranium in drinking water. Method EPA 200.8 was 
published by EPA in 1994; method ASTM D5673-03 was published by ASTM 
International in 2003; and SM 3125 was published by the Standard 
Methods Committee in 1998. In today's proposed rule, EPA is proposing 
the use of these ICP-MS methods for compliance determinations of 
uranium in drinking water.
    EPA is not, in today's proposed rule, proposing the use of these 
methods for any other purposes. EPA notes that EPA 200.8 was approved 
for compliance determinations of several regulated metals in drinking 
water on December 5, 1994. (59 FR 62456) EPA also recognizes that the 
other two ICP-MS methods proposed through today's action for 
determination of other uranium may also be applicable to monitoring for 
other drinking water contaminants. Although the analytical scope of 
ASTM D5673-03 and SM 3125 extends beyond uranium, these two methods 
were not published until 2003 and 1998, respectively. In a later 
rulemaking, EPA may consider extending the use of ASTM D5673-03 and SM 
3125 to compliance determinations of other regulated metals.
    Like flourometric and laser phosphorimetry methods, ICP-MS measures 
uranium mass only; therefore all caveats discussed in the December 2000 
Radionuclides Rule on using mass methods to determine contributions to 
gross alpha also apply. (65 FR 76724)
    Today's proposed rule does not affect approval of the 15 methods 
currently specified at 40 CFR 141.25(a) for compliance determinations 
of uranium.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    For the Statutory and Executive Order reviews see the parallel 
direct final rule found elsewhere in today's Federal Register.

List of Subjects for 40 CFR Part 141

    Environmental protection, Chemicals, Indians-lands, 
Intergovernmental relations, Radiation protection, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Water supply.

    Dated: May 24, 2004.
Michael O. Leavitt,
Administrator.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, title 40, chapter 1 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations is amended as found in the parallel direct 
final rule found elsewhere in today's Federal Register.
[FR Doc. 04-12300 Filed 6-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P