[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 33 (Friday, February 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10316-10318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03426]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0946; FRL-10625-01-OW]


Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 6--Nominations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting 
nominations of chemicals, microbes, or other substances that are not 
currently regulated in drinking water for possible inclusion on the 
Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 6). 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 have an adverse health effect on humans.

DATES: Nominations must be received on or before April 18, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may send nomination comments, identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0946, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/ 
(our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket 
Center,

[[Page 10317]]

Water Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: EPA Docket Center, WJC West 
Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004. 
The Docket Center's hours of operations are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday (except Federal Holidays).
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID 
No. for this notice. Nominations received may be posted without change 
to https://www.regulations.gov/, including any personal information 
provided. For detailed instructions on sending nominations and 
additional information on the process, see the ``Public Participation'' 
heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Lombardi, Office of Ground 
Water and Drinking Water, Standards and Risk Management Division, 
Environmental Protection Agency; (202) 564-7653; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation

A. Written Comments

    Submit your nomination comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OW-2022-0946, at https://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), 
or the other methods identified in the ADDRESSES section. Once 
submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from the docket. EPA 
may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit to 
EPA's docket at https://www.regulations.gov any information you 
consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI), Proprietary 
Business Information (PBI), 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. 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). Please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets for additional submission methods; the 
full EPA public comment policy; information about CBI, PBI, or 
multimedia submissions; and general guidance on making effective 
comments.

II. General Information

A. Does this action impose any requirements on public water systems?

    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. What is the Contaminant Candidate List?

    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 Drinking Water 
Act (SDWA). 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 EPA publish the CCL every five years (SWDA section 1412(b)(1)). 
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 EPA to make regulatory determinations of 
whether or not to regulate no fewer than five contaminants from the CCL 
every five years. Section 1412(b)(1)(A) of the SDWA specifies that in 
making a determination to regulate a contaminant, it must be determined 
that:
    1. The contaminant may have an adverse effect on human health;
    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 judgement of the EPA Administrator, regulation of 
the contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk 
reduction for persons served by public water systems.
    For additional information on the CCL and Regulatory Determination, 
visit https://www.epa.gov/ccl.

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

    The Fifth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 5) was published on 
November 14, 2022 (87 FR 68060), and includes 66 chemicals, 3 chemical 
groups (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), cyanotoxins, and 
disinfection byproducts (DBPs)), and 12 microbes, which were selected 
from a universe of chemicals used in commerce, pesticides, biological 
toxins, disinfection byproducts, and waterborne pathogens. The list of 
contaminants included on the CCL 5, can be found at https://www.epa.gov/ccl/contaminant-candidate-list-5-ccl-5 and in the Federal 
Register publication for the CCL 5 (November 14, 2022, 87 FR 68060, 
USEPA, 2022).

D. Why is EPA soliciting drinking water contaminant nominations?

    EPA is conducting an evaluation of potential contaminants for 
inclusion on the CCL 6. EPA requests public nominations for 
contaminants that are not currently regulated in drinking water to 
ensure a broad consideration of potential contaminants. Both the 
National Academy of Sciences (NAS, 2001) and National Drinking Water 
Advisory Council (NDWAC, 2004) recommended that CCL be a data-driven, 
step wise approach to classifying drinking water contaminants. These 
advisors also recognized the importance of providing a pathway for 
public participation in the CCL process. The public nomination process 
allows EPA to consider new and emerging contaminants that might not 
otherwise be considered because new information may exist that EPA is 
unaware of and/or the information may not have been widely reported or 
recorded.

III. The CCL Nominations Process

    The contaminant nominations process provides the public with the 
opportunity to identify potential drinking water contaminants and 
provide relevant data for EPA to consider for developing the CCL 6. In 
the future, EPA will also accept information following publication of 
the Draft CCL 6 for public comment.

A. How can stakeholders, agencies, organizations, and the public 
nominate drinking water contaminants for the CCL 6?

    Interested parties can nominate chemicals, microbes, or other 
substances for consideration on the CCL 6 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 EPA through http://www.regulations.gov or by email. Submit nomination 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

[[Page 10318]]

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 
marked accordingly will not be disclosed except in accordance with 
procedures shown in 40 CFR part 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
    When submitting a nomination, EPA prefers the nominator 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 nominated contaminant:
    1. What is the nominated contaminant's name, CAS Registry Number 
(CAS RN) or DSSTox substance identifier (DTXSID), and/or common synonym 
(if applicable)? Note--please do not nominate a contaminant already 
subject to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) 
(see the current list at https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations).
    2. What are the data you believe support the conclusion that the 
nominated 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, measured occurrence in 
sources of drinking water that provide water to public drinking water 
systems, measured occurrence in other water types (i.e., ambient water 
(rivers, lakes, or streams) groundwater, wastewater, stormwater, or 
urban runoff) or provide information that shows the contaminant is 
released in the environment or is manufactured in large quantities and 
has the potential for contaminating sources of public drinking water. 
Please provide the source of the information with complete citations 
for published information (i.e., author(s), title, journal, and date) 
and/or contact information for the primary investigator. Additionally, 
please provide original supporting or supplemental information files 
relevant to the published information (i.e., data tables, data sets, or 
data files, etc).
    3. What new health effects data are available which you believe 
supports the conclusion that a contaminant may have an adverse effect 
on the health of humans? 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, individuals living in disadvantaged communities with known 
occurrence of emerging contaminants in their public water systems, or 
others). Please provide the source of this information with complete 
citations for published information (i.e., author(s), title, journal, 
and date) and/or contact information for the primary investigator. 
Additionally, please provide original supporting or supplemental 
information files relevant to the published information (i.e., data 
tables, data sets, or data files, etc).

B. How do I submit nominations in hard copy?

    You may submit contaminant nominations by mail or hand delivery. To 
allow full consideration, please ensure that your nominations are 
received or postmarked by midnight on April 18, 2023. The address for 
submittal of nominations by mail or hand delivery is listed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice.

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

    EPA will evaluate the information available for all publicly 
nominated drinking water contaminants to determine the appropriateness 
of their inclusion on the CCL 6. EPA does not intend to respond to the 
nomination comments directly or individually. EPA will summarize the 
nominations received when the Draft CCL 6 document is published in the 
Federal Register.

IV. References

National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC). 2004. National 
Drinking Water Advisory Council Report on the CCL Classification 
Process to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Available on 
the internet at: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-11/documents/report_ccl_ndwac_07-06-04.pdf.
National Research Council (NRC). 2001. Classifying Drinking Water 
Contaminants for Regulatory Consideration. National Academy Press. 
Washington, DC. Available on the internet at https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10080/chapter/1.
USEPA. 2022. Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 5-Final. 
Federal Register. Vol. 87, No. 318, pp. 68060--68085. November 14, 
2022. EPA Docket No. EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0594.

Radhika Fox,
Assistant Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2023-03426 Filed 2-16-23; 8:45 am]
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