[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 140 (Monday, July 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47496-47500]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15616]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0300; FRL-11162-01-OW]


Proposed Information Collection Request; Comment Request; 
Information Collection Request for Lead and Copper Rule Revisions 
(LCRR)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to 
submit an information collection request (ICR), ``Information 
Collection

[[Page 47497]]

Request for Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR)'' (EPA ICR No. 
2606.03, OMB Control No. 2040-0297) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act . Before doing so, EPA is soliciting public comments on 
specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described 
below. This is a proposed extension of the LCRR ICR with additional 
information on the potential burden that may result from respondents 
(public water systems, primacy agencies, and EPA) consulting EPA's 
recommendations in ``Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service 
Line Inventory'' (August 2022, EPA 816-B-22-001) (referred to as 
Service Line (SL) Inventory Guidance) when seeking to comply with the 
requirements of the LCRR. An Agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a 
person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless 
it displays a currently valid OMB control number. While this ICR covers 
a period of time following the LCRR compliance date, October 16, 2024, 
EPA intends to revise many parts of the LCRR through the Lead and 
Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) prior to that compliance date. EPA 
intends to promulgate LCRI by October 16, 2024. EPA intends to issue an 
ICR that would revise the information collection to reflect the 
requirements under LCRI when it proposes and promulgates the LCRI.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 22, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2017-0300, online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), by 
email to [email protected], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 
Washington, DC 20460.
    EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the 
public docket without change including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes profanity, threats, information 
claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amina Grant, Standards and Risk 
Management Division, Office of Water, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mail Code 4607M, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: 202-564-7683; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supporting documents that explain in detail 
the information that EPA will be collecting are available in the public 
docket for this ICR. The docket can be viewed online at 
www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0300, or in person at 
the EPA Docket Center, WJC West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, 
Washington, DC. The telephone number for the Docket Center is 202-566-
1744. For additional information about EPA's public docket, visit 
http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq, EPA is soliciting comments and information to 
enable it to: (i) evaluate whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (ii) evaluate the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (iii) enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(iv) minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who 
are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses. EPA is also requesting comment on the 
potential burden and costs associated with the non-binding voluntary 
recommendations in EPA's ``Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a 
Service Line Inventory,'' or SL Inventory Guidance, and the inventory 
templates provided in Appendix A of the guidance document. In addition, 
EPA is requesting comment on the recommendations in the SL Inventory 
Guidance about how to implement the LCRR requirement that public water 
systems (PWS) internally track address the locations of each service 
line. EPA will consider the comments received and amend the ICR, as 
appropriate. The final ICR package will then be submitted to OMB for 
review and approval. At that time, EPA will issue another Federal 
Register notice to announce the submission of the ICR to OMB and the 
opportunity to submit additional comments to OMB.
    Abstract: On January 15, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register (FR) the ``National 
Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Lead and Copper Rule Revisions'' 
(LCRR) (86 FR 4198). In a subsequent action on June 16, 2021, EPA 
published the ``National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Lead and 
Copper Rule Revisions; Delay of Effective and Compliance Dates'' (86 FR 
31939), which set the new effective date for the LCRR as December 16, 
2021, and the compliance date as October 16, 2024. Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) approved the initial ``Information Collection Request 
for Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR)'' on July 25, 2022, and set 
the renewal date as December 31, 2023. Therefore, this ICR renewal 
characterizes the incremental impacts of the LCRR in terms of the 
burden and costs for the three years after December 31, 2023 (January 
1, 2024, through December 31, 2026). Also, this ICR modifies the 
extension to the ICR titled, ``Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts, 
Chemical, and Radionuclides Rules'' (80 FR 78224, December 16, 2015, 
OMB control number 2040-0204), which estimates the burden and costs 
associated with the previous Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) as well as 
other rules.
    In addition to the renewal of the ``Information Collection Request 
for Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR),'' this ICR includes 
information on the potential burden that may result from respondents 
(public water systems, primacy agencies, and EPA) that choose to follow 
recommendations included in EPA's ``Guidance for Developing and 
Maintaining a Service Line Inventory'' (August 2022, EPA 816-B-22-001) 
when seeking to comply with the inventory requirements of the LCRR over 
the same three-year period of January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2026. 
While this ICR covers a period of time following the LCRR compliance 
date, EPA intends to revise the LCRR prior to the compliance date. EPA 
intends to promulgate the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) by 
October 16, 2024 and revise many rule areas of the LCRR. The following 
summary of the LCRR and the estimated burden and costs associated with 
this ICR renewal for the LCRR describe what would happen without 
promulgation of the LCRI and is provided for the reader to understand 
the information that would be collected if the LCRI is not promulgated. 
However, EPA intends to promulgate the LCRI. At that time, EPA also 
intends to issue a new ICR that would describe and assess the revised 
burden and costs to reflect the LCRI when EPA proposes and promulgates 
the LCRI.
    The LCRR revised the previous version of this National Primary 
Drinking Water Regulation and requires community and non-transient non-

[[Page 47498]]

community water systems to optimize corrosion control and, under 
specified conditions, install source water treatment, conduct public 
education, and replace lead service lines (LSLs) in the distribution 
system. The LCRR also expands public education requirements for lead, 
requires greater public access to information on lead, and further 
emphasizes lead reduction for sensitive subpopulations by requiring 
additional lead in drinking water testing at schools and child care 
facilities. The LCRR is designed to identify and reduce lead exposure 
at systems with elevated lead concentrations in their drinking water by 
establishing a lead trigger level (TL) of 0.010 milligrams per liter 
(mg/L) in addition to the lead action level (AL) of 0.015 mg/L that was 
established under the previous rule (a system's lead concentration is 
measured as the 90th percentile water lead level derived from a set of 
samples collected at consumers taps during each monitoring period). See 
the LCRR final rule Federal Register for detailed information on the 
specific regulatory requirements (86 FR 4198, January 15, 2021).
    Water systems required to comply with the regulation include 
Federal, State, Tribal, and local governmental entities as well as 
private entities. States (and Tribes) that have been granted primary 
enforcement authority (i.e., primacy) for the LCR are responsible for 
overseeing rule implementation by systems within their jurisdiction. In 
instances where a State or Tribe does not have primacy, the EPA Region 
is the primacy agency. Systems demonstrate compliance through reporting 
the analytical results of collected samples, LSL statistics (both the 
number of LSLs present in a system and the number of LSLs replaced 
following a TLE or ALE), and other information to the primacy agency. 
Systems use this data to demonstrate compliance, assess treatment 
options, operate and maintain installed treatment, and communicate 
water quality information to consumers served by the system. Primacy 
agencies use the data to determine compliance, designate treatment to 
be installed, and set enforceable operating parameters. Primacy 
agencies are also required to report a subset of the data to EPA, which 
uses this information to protect public health by ensuring compliance 
with the LCR, measuring progress toward meeting the LCR's goals, and 
evaluating the appropriateness of State and Tribal implementation 
activities. The information reported by primacy agencies to EPA can be 
found in the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS).
    In 2024, the first year of the LCRR ICR renewal period, which 
includes the October 16, 2024 LCRR compliance date, PWSs should still 
be engaged in the regulatory startup activities identified in the 
original ``Information Collection Request for Lead and Copper Rule 
Revisions (LCRR).'' These activities include reading and understanding 
the LCRR, assigning personnel and resources for rule implementation, 
attending training and receiving technical assistance from the State, 
developing initial LSL inventories and submitting demonstrations for 
systems that do not have lead, galvanized requiring replacement (GRR), 
and unknown service lines, and conferring with primacy agencies on 
initial planning for lead service line replacement (LSLR) and 
preparation of an LSLR plan when lead, GRR, and unknown service lines 
are present. During this same period, primacy agencies will conduct 
startup activities that include adopting the rule and developing a 
program to implement it, modifying their data systems, providing system 
staff with training and technical assistance, providing internal staff 
with training for implementation, assisting with initial LSL 
inventories and reviewing initial inventories, reviewing demonstrations 
of no LSLs, GRRs, and unknown lines from systems, and conferring with 
systems on initial planning for LSLR and reviewing the LSLR plan.
    Following the LCRR compliance date, both systems and primacy 
agencies must work to implement several ongoing and additional 
regulatory requirements. The resultant ICR related burden and costs 
associated with these implementation activities are estimated in years 
2025 and 2026 of this ICR renewal. The LCRR ICR water system activities 
occurring in years 2025 and 2026 include ongoing rule implementation 
and administration, lead and copper tap monitoring, corrosion control 
treatment (CCT), find-and-fix, water quality parameter monitoring, 
source water monitoring, LSL inventory updates, LSLR, small system 
point-of-use (POU) treatment as a compliance alternative,\1\ lead 
public education and outreach, public notification, and lead in 
drinking water testing programs at schools and child care 
facilities.\2\ During this same period, the burden and cost to primacy 
agencies stems from their review and oversight of the activities 
associated with each of the PWS requirements outlined above as well as 
training staff and managing data systems. See the LCRR final rule 
Federal Register publication for detailed information on the specific 
regulatory requirements to occur in the years 2024, 2025, and 2026 (86 
FR 4198, January 15, 2021). However, note that EPA intends to revise 
many of the parts of LCRR through LCRI prior to the October 16, 2024, 
compliance date, including a future ICR associated with the LCRI.
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    \1\ The replacement of lead bearing plumbing compliance option 
for small system flexibility is not costed out in this ICR or the 
Economic Analysis for the Final Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. EPA 
lacks the system characteristic data that would allow the Agency to 
determine a small system's cost for replacement of lead-bearing 
plumbing materials because of the significant variability among 
systems and the plumbing materials in the buildings they serve. EPA 
assumes a system would only select the replacement of lead-bearing 
plumbing materials compliance option if it cost less than the three 
other alternative compliance options (LSLR, CCT, and POU).
    \2\ Note the degree of burden and cost associated with the 
majority of these activities is dependent on sampled water lead 
levels at individual systems.
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    In this ICR, EPA is also assessing the potential burden and cost to 
public water systems, primacy agencies, and EPA that choose to follow 
the non-binding recommendations made by EPA in its ``Guidance for 
Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory'' (August 2022, EPA 
816-B-22-001), when seeking to comply with the inventory requirements 
of the LCRR over the same three-year period (January 1, 2024 through 
December 31, 2026).\3\
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    \3\ The SL Inventory Guidance document is not a regulation 
itself nor does it change or substitute for the relevant provisions 
and requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act and LCRR. Thus, it 
does not impose legally binding requirements on EPA, primacy 
agencies, or the regulated community. The document does not confer 
legal rights or impose legal obligations on EPA, primacy agencies, 
the regulated community, or any member of the public.
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    The purpose of the SL Inventory Guidance is to assist water systems 
as they develop and maintain their service line inventories and to 
provide primacy agencies with needed information for oversight and 
reporting to EPA. The guidance covers the lifecycle of the inventory, 
including inventory creation, material investigations, system 
reporting, primacy agency review, public accessibility of service line 
information, and service line consumer notification. In addition, the 
guidance provides best practices, case studies, and templates related 
to topics, such as the classification of service line materials; best 
practices for service line material investigations; inventory form and 
format; inventory accessibility; tools to support inventory development 
and data tracking; and ways to prioritize service line investigations.
    More specifically, in this ICR, EPA assessed the potential 
incremental

[[Page 47499]]

burden and cost associated with the general recommendations for PWSs 
to: create an initial inventory that is as thorough as possible; 
provide, in the publicly accessible inventory, location identifiers for 
all service lines that are sufficiently detailed to allow the 
identification of a specific service line; expand inventories to 
include service line subclassifications, other plumbing components such 
as lead connectors, and other details such as source of information, 
pipe diameter, and installation date; conduct interviews with 
experienced staff and plumbers to help focus the inventory effort and 
locate system records; interview neighboring water systems about 
regional construction practices; consider inventory practices as 
something that can be worked into the day-to-day activities of the 
system rather than treated as an independent effort; consider 
developing or modifying SOPs to document how they will collect service 
line information during normal operations and update their inventories; 
partner with plumbers and other third parties to obtain information on 
service line materials; document the records they reviewed (including 
information from past reviews) as a best practice and include the 
source of the material classification in their inventory; and continue 
to gather information on service line materials after the lines have 
been classified and assess the accuracy of historical records.
    The ICR also assesses the potential burden and cost impacts of the 
SL Inventory Guidance recommendations associated with the LCRR 
requirement to update the inventory.\4\ The guidance recommends that 
PWSs begin engaging customers and conducting proactive, on-site service 
line material investigations as soon as possible to improve their 
inventory, verify existing records, and reduce the number of unknowns. 
The service line investigative techniques discussed in the SL Inventory 
Guidance include visual observation, water quality sampling, predictive 
modeling, and excavation.
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    \4\ The LCRR requires submission of the updated version of the 
inventory on the same schedule as a system's tap sampling 
monitoring, but no more frequently than annually (40 CFR 
141.90(e)(3)).
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    A third category of potential burden and costs that could result 
from PWSs choosing to implement the guidance recommendations are those 
associated with public accessibility of the inventory. In the guidance, 
EPA recommends that systems select the best method for sharing the 
inventory data with the public given their data sharing infrastructure, 
technological capabilities, and staff limitations. Online systems could 
share data in the form of interactive maps or downloadable spreadsheets 
on the system's website or through other cloud-based sharing apps or 
FTP/SFTP servers. For PWSs that do not have an online system to 
disseminate inventory data, EPA recommends that these PWSs consider 
developing such a system. Alternatively, in the guidance, EPA suggests 
that information can be shared in a tabular data format in preexisting 
utility mailings or newsletters.
    Appendix A of the SL Inventory Guidance also provides templates to 
assist primacy agencies and PWSs to standardize and potentially 
simplify the inventory development and update process.\5\ For detailed 
information on the SL Inventory Guidance recommendations and templates, 
see https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/revised-lead-and-copper-rule.
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    \5\ See EPA's website at https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/revised-lead-and-copper-rule for a downloadable, 
spreadsheet version of the template that contains forms and 
additional sheets for inventory tracking.
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    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: Data associated with this ICR are 
collected and maintained by PWS and State, Territorial, Tribal, and 
Federal governments. Respondents include:
     Owners/operators of PWSs, who must report to their primacy 
agency.
     Primacy agencies, and the EPA Regions that act as primacy 
agencies for States, Territories, and Tribal lands that do not have 
primacy.
    The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for 
privately owned PWSs is 22131. The NAICS codes for State agencies that 
include drinking water programs are 92411 (Administration of Air and 
Water Resources and Solid Waste Management Programs) or 92312 
(Administration of Public Health Programs). Ancillary systems (systems 
where providing water is ancillary to a primary business, e.g., mobile 
home parks) cannot be categorized in a single NAICS code. For ancillary 
systems, the NAICS code is that of the primary establishment or 
industry.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: This collection has both 
mandatory and voluntary components. The mandatory data collection is 
associated with the regulatory requirements of the LCRR. The authority 
for this collection is derived from different parts of SDWA, including 
the definition for a ``primary drinking water regulation'' under 
section 1401(1)(D) of SDWA, which requires that a ``primary drinking 
water regulation means a regulation'' that ``contains criteria and 
procedures to assure a supply of drinking water which dependably 
complies with such maximum contaminant levels [or treatment techniques 
promulgated in lieu of a maximum contaminant level]; including accepted 
methods for quality control and testing procedures to [e]nsure 
compliance with such levels and to [e]nsure proper operation and 
maintenance of the system . . .'' Furthermore, section 1445(a)(1)(A) of 
SDWA requires that ``[e]very person who is subject to any requirement 
of this subchapter or who is a grantee, shall establish and maintain 
such records, make such reports, conduct such monitoring, and provide 
such information as the Administrator may reasonably require by 
regulation to assist the Administrator in establishing regulations 
under this subchapter, in determining whether such person has acted or 
is acting in compliance with this subchapter . . .'' In addition, 
section 1413(a)(3) of SDWA requires primacy agencies to ``keep such 
records and make such reports . . . as the Administrator may require by 
regulation.''
    A portion of the estimated burden and costs associated with this 
ICR come from activities PWSs and primacy agencies may implement based 
on the non-binding recommendations, provided in EPA's SL Inventory 
Guidance, on the development and maintenance for the LCRR-required 
initial LSL inventory and subsequent updates to that inventory. Based 
on the recommendations and best practices included in the SL Inventory 
Guidance, EPA anticipates that PWSs that choose to implement some or 
all of the recommendations and best practices may achieve benefits, 
such as having a more accurate service line inventory that helps 
facilitate LCRR compliance, improving LSLR program efficiency and 
transparency, providing greater public health protection, potentially 
assisting in obtaining external funds for inventory development and 
LSLR, improving asset management, and providing potential cost savings. 
A more robust inventory that uses these recommendations may provide 
primacy agencies with more accurate information for oversight and 
reporting.
    Estimated number of respondents: The total number of respondents 
for this ICR is 67,712. Fifty-six of these respondents are primacy 
agencies and the remaining 67,656 respondents are water systems.
    Frequency of response: The estimated total net average annual 
number of

[[Page 47500]]

responses is 56,055,890 (55,356,286 system responses plus 699,604 
primacy agency responses).
    Total estimated burden: The total net annual respondent burden 
associated with this ICR is estimated to be 9,660,286 hours (per year). 
Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: The total net annual costs are estimated to 
be $641,162,423 per year.
    Changes in Estimates: There is an increase between 25,592,837 and 
25,809,781 hours \6\ in the total estimated respondent burden compared 
with the ICR currently approved by OMB. This increase is primarily due 
to the differing ICR burden estimation windows. The previous ICR 
covered the first three years after the promulgation of the LCRR when 
PWSs and primacy agencies should be engaged in the regulatory startup/
implementation activities identified in the original ``Information 
Collection Request for Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR)'' or the 
currently approved ICR. These activities include reading and 
understanding the LCRR, assigning personnel and resources for rule 
implementation, attending training and receiving technical assistance 
from the State, developing initial LSL inventories and submitting 
demonstrations that systems only have non-lead service lines (where 
applicable), and conferring with primacy agencies on initial planning 
for LSLR and preparing an LSLR plan when LSLs are present. During this 
same period, primacy agencies should be conducing startup activities 
that include adopting the rule and developing a program to implement 
it, modifying their data systems, providing system staff with training 
and technical assistance, providing internal staff with training for 
implementation, assisting with initial LSL inventories and reviewing 
initial inventories, reviewing demonstrations of only non-lead service 
lines from systems, and conferring with systems on initial planning for 
LSLR and reviewing the LSLR plan. This proposed ICR covers these same 
activities from the currently approved ICR in the first year of this 
ICR renewal period (2024), but in the next two years (2025 and 2026) of 
the ICR, both systems and primacy agencies must work to implement a 
number of ongoing and additional regulatory requirements including 
ongoing rule implementation and administration, lead and copper tap 
monitoring, corrosion control treatment, find-and-fix, water quality 
parameter monitoring, source water monitoring, LSL inventory updates, 
LSL replacement, small system POU treatment as a compliance 
alternative, lead public education and outreach, public notification, 
and lead in drinking water testing programs at schools and child care 
facilities. During this same period, the burden and cost to primacy 
agencies stems from their review and oversite activities associated 
with this larger set of the PWS requirements for 2025 and 2026. A 
relatively small increase in burden is associated with systems and 
primacy agencies voluntarily following recommendations associated with 
EPA's SL Inventory Guidance. Approximately 3 million hours of the total 
burden increase is attributable to inventory guidance activities not 
already covered by the original LCRR impact analysis.
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    \6\ The currently approved ICR provided a total burden range of 
3,171,076 to 3,388,020 hours. The current analysis provides only a 
single high-end estimate of 28,980,857 hours.

Jennifer McLain,
Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water.
[FR Doc. 2023-15616 Filed 7-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P