[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 194 (Friday, October 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50364-50366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21748]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0594; FRL-9985-17-OW]


Request for Nominations of Drinking Water Contaminants for the 
Fifth Contaminant Candidate List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting 
nominations of chemical and microbial contaminants that are not 
currently regulated, for possible inclusion on the fifth drinking water 
Contaminant Candidate List. The EPA requests that nominations include 
information showing the nominated contaminant is known or anticipated 
to occur in public water systems and indicating the nominated 
contaminant may require regulation due to the potential for adverse 
effects on the health of persons.

DATES: Nominations must be received on or before December 4, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2018-0594, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. You may also submit comments by mail or hand delivery to: 
Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code: 2822T, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460.
    Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn. The EPA may 
publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit 
electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 
accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the 
official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish 
to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment 
contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, 
cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission 
methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or 
multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective 
comments, please visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. More information about comment submissions and CBI specific to 
the nomination process is included in Section III of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this notice and/or 
inquiries regarding the EPA's fifth drinking water Contaminant 
Candidate List (CCL 5) nominations, please contact Kesha Forrest, 
Standards and Risk Management Division, Office of Ground Water and 
Drinking Water, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. 
NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-3632; email 
address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    This notice does not impose any requirements on anyone; it only 
requests nominations for the drinking water Contaminant Candidate List 
(CCL) and provides information on how the public can submit nominations 
to the EPA.

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

    The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0594. Publicly available docket materials are 
accessible either electronically through http://www.regulations.gov or 
in hard copy at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center (see the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice).

II. Background

A. What is the CCL?

    The CCL is a list of contaminants that are currently not subject to 
any proposed or promulgated national primary drinking water 
regulations, that are known or anticipated to occur in public water 
systems, and which may require regulation under the Safe

[[Page 50365]]

Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The EPA uses this list of unregulated 
contaminants to prioritize research and data collection efforts to help 
the Agency determine whether to regulate a specific contaminant. The 
SDWA requires that the EPA publish the CCL every five years (SWDA Sec.  
1412(b)(1)). The EPA is also required to consult with the scientific 
community, including the Science Advisory Board, and provide notice and 
opportunity for public comment prior to publication of the final CCL.
    The SDWA also requires the EPA to determine whether to regulate at 
least five contaminants from the CCL every five years (SWDA Sec.  
1412(b)(1)). To regulate a contaminant, the SDWA specifies the EPA must 
determine that:
    1. The contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of 
persons;
    2. The contaminant is known to occur, or there is a substantial 
likelihood that the contaminant will occur, in public water systems 
with a frequency and at levels of public health concern; and
    3. In the sole judgment of the Administrator, regulation of such 
contaminant presents meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction 
for persons served by public water systems.

B. What contaminants were listed on the previous Contaminant Candidate 
List?

    The fourth CCL (CCL 4) was published on November 17, 2016 (81 FR 
81099). CCL 4 included 97 chemicals or chemical groups and 12 microbial 
contaminants. The list includes, among others, chemicals used in 
commerce, pesticides, biological toxins, disinfection byproducts, 
pharmaceuticals, and waterborne pathogens. The list of contaminants 
included on CCL 4, and other information regarding the CCL, can be 
found on the internet at https://www.epa.gov/ccl and in the Federal 
Register notice for the final CCL 4 (81 FR 81099, November 17, 2016).

C. Why is the EPA soliciting contaminant nominations?

    The EPA is conducting an evaluation of potential contaminants for 
inclusion on the draft CCL 5. The EPA is requesting public nominations 
for contaminants that are not currently regulated, to ensure that 
contaminants that may not be typically identified as part of the EPA's 
CCL process are considered. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS, 
2001) and National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC, 2004) 
recommended to the EPA that the CCL be a data-driven, step-wise 
approach to classifying contaminants. These experts also recognized the 
importance of providing an additional pathway for the public to 
identify new and emerging contaminants for the EPA to further evaluate. 
A public nomination process allows the EPA to consider new and emerging 
contaminants that might not otherwise be considered because new 
information may exist that the EPA is unaware of and/or the information 
may not have been widely reported or recorded.

III. The EPA CCL Nomination Process

    This contaminant nomination process is the first opportunity for 
the public to make nominations for contaminants to be considered for 
the CCL 5. The EPA will also accept nominations during the notice and 
comment period following the EPA's publication of the draft CCL 5 in 
the Federal Register.

A. How can stakeholders, agencies, industry, and the public nominate 
contaminants for the CCL 5?

    Interested parties can nominate chemicals, microbes, or other 
materials for consideration on the CCL 5 by sending information 
electronically through http://www.regulations.gov, by mail, or by hand 
delivery (see the ADDRESSES section of this notice). Do not submit 
confidential business information (CBI) to the EPA through http://www.regulations.gov or email. Submit comments that contain CBI only by 
mail or hand delivery, and clearly mark the part of or all the 
information that you claim to be CBI. In addition to one complete 
version of the comment that includes information claimed as CBI, a non-
CBI 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 the Code of Federal Regulations at 40 CFR part 
2.
    When submitting a nomination, it is preferred that the nominators 
include a name, affiliation, phone number, mailing address, and email 
address; however, this information is not required and nominations can 
be submitted anonymously. The nominator should also address the 
following questions for each contaminant nominated to the CCL:
    1. What is the contaminant's name, CAS number, and/or common 
synonym (if applicable)? Please do not nominate a contaminant that is 
already subject to a national primary drinking water regulation.
    2. What are the data that you believe support the conclusion that 
the contaminant is known or anticipated to occur in public water 
systems? For example, provide information that shows measured 
occurrence of the contaminant in drinking water or measured occurrence 
in sources of drinking water or provide information that shows the 
contaminant is released in the environment or is manufactured in large 
quantities and has a potential for contaminating sources of drinking 
water. Please provide the source of this information with complete 
citations for published information (i.e., author(s), title, journal, 
and date) or contact information for the primary investigator.
    3. What are the data that you believe support the conclusion that 
the contaminant may require regulation? For example, provide 
information that shows the contaminant may have an adverse health 
effect on the general population or that the contaminant is potentially 
harmful to subgroups that comprise a meaningful portion of the 
population (such as children, pregnant women, the elderly, individuals 
with a history of serious illness, or others). Please provide the 
source of this information with complete citations for published 
information (i.e., author(s), title, journal, and date) or contact 
information for the primary investigator.

B. How do I submit nominations in hard copy?

    You may submit nominations by mail or hand delivery. To allow full 
consideration of your nomination, please ensure that your nominations 
are received or postmarked by midnight December 4, 2018. The address 
for submittal of nominations by mail or hand delivery is listed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this document.

C. What will happen to my nominations after I submit them?

    The EPA will evaluate the information available for the nominated 
contaminants to determine the appropriateness of inclusion on the CCL 
5. The EPA does not intend to respond to the nominations directly or 
individually. The EPA will summarize the nominations received when the 
draft CCL 5 list is published in the Federal Register.

IV. References

    Copies of these documents are found at http://www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0594.

NAS 2001. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. 
2001. Classifying Drinking Water Contaminants for Regulatory 
Consideration. National Academy Press. Washington, DC. Available at 
http://books.nap.edu/books/0309074088/html/

[[Page 50366]]

index.html.
NDWAC 2004. National Drinking Water Advisory Council. National 
Drinking Water Advisory Council Report on the CCL Classification 
Process to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, May 18, 2004. 
Available at https://www.epa.gov/ccl/national-drinking-water-advisory-council-report-ccl-classification-process.

    Dated: September 27, 2018.
David P. Ross,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2018-21748 Filed 10-4-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P