[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Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn.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]
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