[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 73 (Tuesday, April 16, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22540-22542]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-08827]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2013-0213; FRL-9803-5]


Notice of Public Meeting/Webinar: EPA Method Development Update 
on Drinking Water Testing Methods for Contaminant Candidate List 
Contaminants

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of 
Ground Water and Drinking Water, Standards and Risk Management 
Division's Technical Support Center (TSC) announces a public meeting/
webinar to discuss analytical testing procedures for unregulated 
contaminants in drinking water that are, or are being considered for 
inclusion, on the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). Technical experts 
from TSC and the EPA Office of Research and Development's National 
Exposure Research Laboratory Microbiological and Chemical Exposure 
Assessment Research Division will describe methods currently in 
development for many CCL contaminants, with an expectation that several 
of these methods will support future cycles of the Unregulated 
Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) program. The agenda for the public 
meeting/webinar

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will include time for public comment for those that pre-register to 
present information and technical input on analytical testing 
procedures.

DATES: The public meeting/webinar will be held on Wednesday, May 15, 
2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Eastern Time. The meeting/webinar 
materials will be available from May 15, 2013, to June 17, 2013 to 
accommodate post-meeting comments. Persons wishing to attend the 
meeting in-person or on-line via the webinar must register by May 1, 
2013, as described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in Room 130/138 at the EPA's 
Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center (AWBERC), 26 West 
Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268. All attendees must 
show government-issued photo identification to enter the building, sign 
in with the security desk and pass through a metal detector. This 
meeting will also be simultaneously broadcast as a webinar, available 
through the Internet. Persons wishing to attend the meeting in-person 
or on-line via the webinar must register by May 1, 2013, by sending an 
email to: [email protected]. Further information about 
registration, and participation in the meeting, can be found on the 
EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Program Meetings and Materials 
Web page: http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/ucmr/calendar.cfm.
    Submit written comments and technical input (described in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section) by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Mail: Water Docket, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mail Code: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: Water Docket, U.S. EPA Docket Center (EPA/
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. The EPA Docket Center, Water Docket is located in 
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20004. The 
telephone number for the Water Docket is (202) 566-2426.
    Instructions: Direct your information to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2013-0213. EPA's policy is that all information received will be 
included in the public docket without change and may be made available 
online at www.regulations.gov, 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 through 
www.regulations.gov or email that you consider to be CBI or otherwise 
protected. If you have such information, you should contact EPA (as 
described in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section) for 
instructions on submitting CBI.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any members of the public who wish to 
receive further information about the meeting/webinar or have questions 
about this notice or submission of comments should contact Glynda 
Smith, Technical Support Center, Standards and Risk Management 
Division, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (MS 140), 
Environmental Protection Agency, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, 
Cincinnati, OH 45268; telephone number: (513) 569-7652; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    This notice is directed to the public in general; the action does 
not impose any requirements. The public meeting/webinar may be of 
interest to persons who conduct chemical or microbiological testing for 
drinking water contaminants, and in particular those that conduct 
testing under the UCMR program.

B. How can I get copies of this document and other related information?

    This document is available for download at: www.regulations.gov. 
For other related information, reference Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2013-
0213.

C. How may I participate in this meeting?

    Persons interested in attending the meeting in-person or on-line 
need to register by sending an email to: [email protected] by 
May 1, 2013. Comments on the meeting/webinar, including technical input 
regarding potential drinking water analytical testing procedures for 
one or more contaminants that are, or are likely to be considered for 
inclusion, on the CCL may be made during the public comment session of 
the meeting or in writing to the public docket (see ADDRESSES section). 
EPA encourages public input and will allocate time for stakeholder 
presentations of candidate analytical testing procedures based on the 
number of registrants that sign up to speak and time available in the 
meeting. EPA requests that only one person present a statement on 
behalf of a group or organization. To be placed on the public speaker 
list, send an email to: [email protected] by May 1, 2013, and 
indicate that you will be attending the meeting and would like to 
speak.
    Special Accommodations: To request special accommodations for 
individuals with disabilities, please contact 
[email protected]. Please allow at least five business days 
prior to the meeting to allow time to process your request.

D. How can stakeholders identify potential testing procedures for 
priority unregulated contaminants?

    The public meeting/webinar will provide opportunities to learn 
about EPA's method development work and to provide public comments. In 
addition, EPA will be posting the meeting/webinar materials in the 
Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2013-2013 from May 15, 2013, to June 17, 2013, to 
provide an opportunity for written comments.
    EPA's preferred method for submission of written comments about 
testing procedures is through www.regulations.gov [Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OW-2013-0213], though other options are described in the ADDRESSES 
section of this notice. EPA requests that the submitters include: name, 
affiliation, phone number, mailing address, and email address. However, 
this information is not required and comments can be submitted 
anonymously. The following information will be specifically presented 
in the public meeting/webinar, which commenters should address as 
applicable:
    1. Specify the CCL contaminant(s) that can be analyzed with the 
drinking water test procedure. Proposed testing procedures should focus 
on CCL 3 contaminants (https://federalregister.gov/a/E9-24287) or 
contaminants likely to be considered for CCL 4 (nominated contaminants 
can be viewed at www.regulations.gov and referencing Docket ID EPA-HQ-
OW-2012-0217). Note that EPA is currently developing the draft CCL 4, 
which includes consideration of the contaminants that were nominated.
    2. Specify the sensitivity, accuracy and precision attainable for 
the contaminant(s) using the test procedure. Testing procedures 
submitted for consideration are expected to be validated prior to use. 
Guidelines for test method validation are described by

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the EPA Forum on Environmental Measurement (FEM) in documents available 
through the FEM Web site (USEPA 2005, USEPA 2009).
    3. To the extent possible, specify the cost, availability, and 
projected laboratory capacity associated with the technology that is 
being proposed.
    4. Provide complete citations for referenced test methods, 
including author(s), title, journal (or other publication), and date.
    5. Provide contact information for the primary investigator, when 
available.

II. Background

A. How does EPA identify priority contaminants and collect information 
to judge their occurrence in drinking water?

    The 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) 
established the CCL and UCMR programs to provide information that EPA 
needs to determine whether particular drinking water contaminants 
should be regulated. The CCL is a list of contaminants that when 
published are not subject to any proposed or promulgated national 
primary drinking water regulations, are known or anticipated to occur 
in public drinking water systems, and may require regulations under 
SDWA. While the CCL process identifies contaminants that may require 
regulation, the UCMR program provides the framework to collect data to 
help determine whether a contaminant occurs at a frequency and 
concentration that would be of public health concern. EPA published the 
third CCL (CCL 3) containing 116 contaminants on October 8, 2009 (74 FR 
51850) and the third UCMR (UCMR 3) on May 2, 2012 (77 FR 26072). 
Monitoring under UCMR 3 began January 1, 2013, and will continue until 
December 31, 2015.
    On May 8, 2012, EPA published a Federal Register notice (77 FR 
27057) requesting nominations of chemical and microbial contaminants 
for possible inclusion in the fourth drinking water Contaminant 
Candidate List (CCL 4). A summary of the contaminants nominated for 
inclusion in CCL 4 can be viewed at www.regulations.gov referencing 
Docket ID EPA-HQ-OW-2012-0217.

B. What is the basis for this action?

    Under UCMR, a unique set of up to 30 contaminants is identified 
every five years for monitoring. In order to correctly identify and 
quantitate these contaminants in a national monitoring effort, robust 
testing methods must be available. This public meeting/webinar will 
provide a forum to hear about and discuss EPA's current drinking water 
method development for priority contaminants--focusing on CCL 3 and 
possible CCL 4 contaminants--as well as other testing procedures that 
may be applicable to these contaminants.

III. References

USEPA. 2005. Validation and Peer Review of U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Chemical Methods of Analysis, FEM Document Number 
2005-01. Available at http://www.epa.gov/fem/agency_methods.htm.
USEPA. 2009. Method Validation of U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency Microbiological Methods of Analysis, FEM Document Number 
2009-01. Available at http://www.epa.gov/fem/agency_methods.htm.

    Dated: April 8, 2013.
Peter Grevatt,
Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water.
[FR Doc. 2013-08827 Filed 4-15-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6550-50-P