[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