03-5323. Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; (OMB Control No. 2040-0164, EPA ICR No. 1654.04)

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that the following Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Reporting Requirements Under EPA's Water Alliances for Voluntary Efficiency (WAVE) Program . The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before April 7, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Follow the detailed instructions in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Valerie Martin, Municipal Support Division, Office of Wastewater Management, Mailcode 4204M, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: [phone]; fax number: [phone]; e-mail address: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12. On September 26, 2002 (67 FR 60679), EPA sought comments on this ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.

EPA has established a docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. OW-2002-0069, which is available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is [phone], and the telephone number for the Water Docket is [phone]. An electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/​edocket. Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, select “search,” then key in the docket ID number identified above.

Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed instructions: (1) Submit your comments to EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail to [e-mail], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) Mail your comments to OMB at: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.

EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov/​edocket.

Title: Reporting Requirements Under EPA's Water Alliances for Voluntary Efficiency (WAVE) Program (OMB Control No. 2040-0164, EPA ICR No. 1654.04). This is a request to renew an existing approved collection that is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2003. Under the OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.

Abstract: EPA initially collects facility information and thereafter annually collects water, energy, and cost savings information from participants in the WAVE program. WAVE Partners are commercial businesses or institutions that voluntarily agree to implement cost-effective water efficiency measures in their facilities. Initially the WAVE Program targeted the lodging industry, but now includes office buildings, educational institutions and medical facilities. Another type of participant, “Supporters,” works with EPA to promote water efficiency. Supporters are equipment manufacturers, water management companies, utilities, state and local governments, and the like.

The purpose of the WAVE Program is pollution prevention. EPA and the Pollution Prevention Act define pollution prevention as “source reduction,” and other practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water, or other resources, or through protection of natural resources by conservation. By promoting water efficiency, WAVE prevents pollution in two basic ways. First, wastewater flows are reduced which can increase treatment efficiency at wastewater treatment plants resulting in reduced pollutant loads. Second, less water used means that less energy will be used to treat, transport, and heat drinking water and to transport and treat wastewater. To the extent that the reduced energy use so achieved is electrical energy, power plant emissions are reduced. Water efficiency also causes less water to be withdrawn and helps preserve streamflow to maintain a healthy aquatic environment; in addition, less pumping of groundwater lowers the chance that pollutants that may be in the groundwater will be drained into a water supply well.

EPA uses the information to maintain a profile of program membership and to monitor the success of the program, demonstrate that pollution prevention can be accomplished with a non-regulatory approach, and to promote the program to potential partners. Participation in the WAVE Program is voluntary; however, a participant joins the program by signing and submitting a Membership Agreement and an annual Results Report to EPA to receive and retain program benefits, such as software and publicity. No participant is required to submit confidential business information. EPA maintains and distributes a list of program participants, and presents aggregated data only in its program progress reports.

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. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15, and are identified on the form and/or instrument, if applicable.

Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to average about 3 hours per Membership Agreement response, a one-time submission, and 6 hours per Results Report response, an annual submission. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Respondents/Affected Entities: Commercial businesses or institutions.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 136.

Frequency of Response: Annual.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 389 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Cost: $28,974, includes $0 of capital startup and O&M costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 2,167 hours in the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease is due to simplification of the reporting process and more accurate projections of new participants.

Dated: February 26, 2003.

Oscar Morales,

Director, Collection Strategies Division.