[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 11, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1892-1893]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-499]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[Docket: OW-2004-0039; FRL-7860-3]
Promoting Water Conservation in Multi-Family Housing
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking public
comment on water metering and billing systems that promote full cost
and conservation pricing to achieve water conservation within the
drinking water industry. In addition, EPA seeks information on ways
that residential and commercial water users, and drinking water
utilities can reduce water use and promote water conservation.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 14, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No.OW-2004-
0039, by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
Agency Web site: 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: Comments may be sent by electronic mail (e-mail)
to [email protected]. Attention Docket ID No. OW-2004-0039.
Mail: Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail
Code 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460,
Attention Docket ID No. OW-2004-0039. Please include a total of three
(3) copies.
Hand Delivery: Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket
Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC. Attention Water Docket ID No. OW-2004-0039. 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-2004-0039.
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 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 Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West,
Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. 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, and the telephone number for the Water
Docket is (202) 566-2426.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information please contact
Sarah Koppel by phone at (202) 564-3859, or by e-mail at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through
EDOCKET, regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly mark the part or all of the
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or
CD ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD ROM as
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the
specific information that is claimed as CBI). In addition to one
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket.
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
[[Page 1893]]
2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments,
remember to:
i. Identify the action by docket number and other identifying
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
ii. Follow directions--The agency may ask you to respond to
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
iii. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and
substitute language for your requested changes.
iv. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information
and/or data that you used.
v. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
vi. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and
suggest alternatives.
vii. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of
profanity or personal threats.
viii. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
B. Background of Final Revised Policy
On December 23, 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
published a final memorandum in the Federal Register (68 FR 74233) that
outlined its revised policy regarding regulatory requirements under the
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) for properties that submeter for water
usage. Through the revised policy memorandum, as a way to promote full
cost and conservation pricing to achieve water conservation, the EPA
changed its long standing interpretation of SDWA section 1411 as it
applies to submetered properties. Under the revised policy, a property
owner who had not previously been (or would not be) subject to SDWA
national primary drinking water regulations through SDWA section 1411,
and who installs submeters to accurately track usage of water by
tenants on his or her property, will not then be subject to SDWA
regulations solely as a result of taking the action to submeter and
bill. EPA took this action because the Agency believed that water
submetering promotes water conservation. The data and information
available to EPA in December of 2003 did not show that allocated
billing systems, such as ratio utility billing systems (RUBS) and hot
water hybrid (HWH) systems, would promote water conservation.
Therefore, EPA did not include other billing systems in the final
revised policy.
The findings of a new two-year study of water billing practices in
the multi-family residential sector, released on August 30, 2004, show
the water conservation benefits of submetering. The study was conducted
by Aquacraft, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, the National Research Center,
and Potomac Resources. The study underwent extensive peer review and
was sponsored by EPA, National Apartment Association, National Multi
Housing Council, City of Austin, City of Phoenix, City of Portland,
City of Tucson, Denver Water Department, East Bay Municipal Utility
District, San Antonio Water System, San Diego County Water Authority,
Seattle Public Utilities, and Southern Nevada Water Authority. A copy
of the study can be accessed at EPA Docket ID No. OW-2004-0039. The
study showed that ``Submetering was found to achieve statistically
significant water savings of 15.3 percent (21.8 gal/day/unit) compared
to traditional in-rent properties after correcting for factors * * *''
In addition, ``This study found no evidence that Ratio Utility Billing
Systems (RUBS) reduced water use by a statistically significant amount
compared with traditional in-rent arrangements, and the data showed
that the difference between water use in RUBS and in-rent properties
was not statistically different from zero''.
The findings and recommendations of the study will help EPA and the
drinking water industry better understand current mechanisms available
to facilitate water conservation in multi-family housing. EPA strongly
supports water conservation efforts, and encourages all actions to
promote conservation by renters, homeowners, apartment owners, and
water systems.
Dated: January 6, 2005.
Benjamin Grumbles,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 05-499 Filed 1-10-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P