[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 75 (Thursday, April 18, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16259-16260]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07796]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R08-OW-2015-0346; FRL-9992-34-Region 8]


Proposed Issuance of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination 
System General Permit for Wastewater Discharges Associated With 
Drinking Water Production Located in the EPA Region 8 Indian Country

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 is 
requesting comments on the draft 2019 National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination System (NPDES) drinking water general permit (DWGP) for 
wastewater discharges associated with drinking water treatment plants. 
The DWGP will authorize wastewater discharges from drinking water 
facilities located in Indian country in the EPA Region 8 in accordance 
with the terms and conditions described therein. This is the first 
issuance of the DWGP. EPA proposes to issue the permit for five (5) 
years and is seeking comment on the draft permit.

DATES: Comments must be received, in writing, on or before 30 days 
after the date of this publication.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R08-
OW-2015-0346, by the following method: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
    Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from 
www.regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received. Do not 
submit 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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Wastewater Program, 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, 1595 Wynkoop Street, 
Denver, Colorado 80202-1129. The EPA requests that if at all possible, 
you contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section to view the hard copy of the docket. You may view the 
hard copy of the docket Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., 
excluding federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Garrison, Wastewater Program, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, Mailcode 8WP-CWW, 1595 
Wynkoop Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1129, (303) 312-6016, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The Drinking Water General Permit (DWGP) contains requirements 
similar to an individual permit and will authorize the discharge of 
process wastewater in accordance with the terms and conditions 
described therein. The fact sheet for the permit is provided for 
download concurrently with the permit and provides detailed information 
on the methodology used to develop effluent limitations, the specific 
geographic areas covered by the permits, monitoring schedules, 
inspection requirements, and other regulatory decisions or requirements 
in the permit.

II. Summary of Permit Coverage

    The DWGP (DWG589XXX) provides coverage for drinking water treatment 
facilities in EPA Region 8 that discharge process wastewater to waters 
of the United States in Indian Country within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 
1151. A full description of the geographic scope of coverage is 
included in the public notice version of the permit.
    The DWGP provides coverage for discharges of treated wastewater 
from drinking water treatment processes. Process flows contributing to 
the discharge include: Filter backwash, filter to waste, decanted lime 
sludge dewatering, influent screen backwash and/or miscellaneous 
wastewater sources associated with drinking water facility operation. 
Miscellaneous wastewater sources may include, but are not limited to: 
Processed potable water, disinfection of treatment plant pipelines and 
tanks, and overflow from holding tanks of treated water.
    The EPA has identified drinking water treatment processes methods 
that do not qualify for coverage under the DWGP. The processes 
wastewaters not included in this general permit include: Batch 
regenerated potassium permanganate iron removal, sodium zeolite 
softening, nano filtration and reverse osmosis.
    The DWGP contains two sets of effluent limitations: Primary 
effluent limitations that apply to all discharges, and supplemental 
effluent limitations that will apply to discharges on an individual 
basis as necessary to protect water quality. The effluent limitations 
were derived from technology based and water quality based effluent 
limitations as described in the fact sheet. The EPA will review a 
facility's Notice of Intent (NOI) to be covered under the DWGP and 
determine the need for implementation of the supplemental effluent 
limitations and corresponding self-monitoring requirements. The 
permittee will be notified of the applicable effluent limitations and 
monitoring requirements in the notification of coverage.
    The following Tribes in EPA Region 8 have Clean Water Act Sec.  
401(a)(1) certification authority: The Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes, the 
Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, the 
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. The EPA has 
requested certification from each of these Tribes that the DWGP 
complies with the applicable provisions of the Clean Water Act and 
their respective tribal water quality standards.

III. Other Legal Requirements

    Economic Impact (Executive Order 12866): The EPA Office of Policy 
has determined that the issuance of these general permits is not a 
``significant regulatory action'' under the terms of Executive Order 
12866 (58 FR 51735 (October 4, 1993)) and is therefore not subject to 
formal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review prior to proposal.
    Paperwork Reduction Act: EPA has reviewed the requirements imposed 
on

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regulated facilities in these proposed general permits under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 44 U.S.C. 501, et seq. The information 
collection requirements of these permits have already been approved by 
the OMB in submissions made for the NPDES permit program under the 
provisions of the Clean Water Act.
    Unfunded Mandates Reform Act: Section 201 of the Unfunded Mandates 
Reform Act (UMRA), Public Law 104-4, generally requires federal 
agencies to assess the effects of their ``regulatory actions'' defined 
to be the same as ``rules'' subject to the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(RFA) on tribal, state, local governments and the private sector. Since 
the permit proposed is an adjudication, it is not subject to the RFA 
and is therefore not subject to the requirements of the UMRA.

    Authority: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.

    Dated: April 12, 2019.
Darcy O'Connor,
Assistant Regional Administrator, Office of Water Protection.
[FR Doc. 2019-07796 Filed 4-17-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P