[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 25 (Friday, February 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6746-6747]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02332]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

U.S. Geological Survey

[GX15DA009DU2000]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of a new information collection, National Ground-Water 
Monitoring Network Cooperative Funding Application.

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SUMMARY: We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) 
described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 
1995, and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal 
agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC.

DATES: To ensure that your comments are considered, we must receive 
them on or before April 7, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this information collection to 
the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 807, Reston, VA 20192 (mail); (703) 648-
7197 (fax); or [email protected] (email). Please reference 
``Information Collection 1028-NEW, National Ground-Water Monitoring 
Network Cooperative Funding Application'' in all correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daryll Pope, USGS, at (609) 771-3933 
or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    The USGS is working with the Federal Advisory Committee on Water 
Information (ACWI) and its Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW) to 
develop and administer a National Ground-Water Monitoring Network 
(NGWMN). This network is required as part of Public Law 111-11, 
Subtitle F--Secure Water: Section 9507 ``Water Data Enhancement by the 
United States Geological Survey''. The Network will consist of an 
aggregation of well data from existing Federal, Multistate, State, 
Tribal, and local groundwater monitoring networks. To support data 
providers for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network, the USGS 
will be providing funding through cooperative agreements to water-
resource agencies that collect groundwater data. The USGS will be 
soliciting applications for funding that will request information from 
the Agency collecting the data. Elements will include contact 
information (phone number and email address), and a proposal describing 
their existing data collection and a plan to evaluate their data for 
incorporation into the NGWMN. The proposal will be evaluated by the 
USGS and the NGWMN Program Board to appropriate funding. The proposal 
will describe the groundwater networks to be included in the NGWMN, the 
purpose of the networks, an estimate of the number of wells they would 
submit for the network, an overview of the methods they would use to 
select and classify wells for the network a description of data 
collection techniques, and information on their databases. The proposal 
would also require estimates of one-time costs to complete the above 
tasks and annual costs to participate in the network.

II. Data

    OMB Control Number: 1028-NEW.
    Title: National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Cooperative Funding 
Application.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Affected Public: Multistate, State, Tribal, or Local water-resource 
agencies who operate groundwater monitoring networks.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory to be considered for funding.
    Frequency of Collection: Annually.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 100.

[[Page 6747]]

    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 100.
    Estimated Time per Response: Initial application will take 30 hours 
to prepare the proposal. This includes time to review the NGWMN 
Framework Document to understand the Network design and requirements 
for data providers. Annual proposal renew will take 4 hours.
    Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 3000 hours for initial proposal, 400 
hours for annual renewal.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-Hour Cost'' Burden: 
None.
    Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) 
provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor and you are not 
required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number and current expiration date.

III. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting comments as to: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the agency to perform its 
duties, including whether the information is useful; (b) the accuracy 
of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) how to minimize the burden 
on the respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Please note that the comments submitted in response to this notice 
are a matter of public record. Before including your personal mailing 
address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable 
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire 
comment, including your personally identifiable information, may be 
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your 
comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from 
public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

William Cunningham,
Chief, Office of Groundwater.
[FR Doc. 2015-02332 Filed 2-5-15; 8:45 am]
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