03-21185. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; State Water Quality Program Management Resource (Gap) Analysis, EPA ICR Number 1945.02, OMB Control Number 2040-0216

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 an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2003. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before September 18, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OW-2003-0027, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail to [e-mail], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Water Docket, Mail Code: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jane Ephremides, Resources Management and Evaluation Staff, Office of Wastewater Management, Office of Water, Mail Code: 4201M , 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 May 8, 2003 (68 FR 24374), EPA sought comments on this ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.

EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. OW-2003-0027, 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. 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 www.epa.gov/​edocket.

Title: State Water Quality Program Management Resource (Gap) Analysis.

Abstract: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with States, is conducting this voluntary State Water Quality Management Resource Analysis (Gap Analysis) to help enumerate current and future funding needs and to help identify innovative strategies for reducing resource gaps. To gather preliminary information in a short time frame, the Gap Analysis was originally divided into two phases. Phase I consisted of the development of an initial, national estimate of the resource gap faced by water quality management programs to provide a general idea of the magnitude of the resource gap faced by States.

Phase II of the Gap Analysis involved developing a detailed, activity-based workload model to provide a common framework and consistent methodology for States and EPA to estimate the cost to the States to meet the objectives of the Clean Water Act (CWA) over the next five years. In order to complete the model, EPA's Office of Wastewater Management (OWM) gathered data from 21 States on current and future resources needed for water quality management activities.

Phase III of the Gap Analysis will build upon the information collected in Phase II, which used an estimate of current State expenditures on water quality activities. Under Phase III, States will complete a portion of the Phase II modules to update the needs numbers to reflect regulatory changes or changes to their programs. In addition, States will be asked to complete an activity-based model for current expenditures that mirrors the model for needs. This baseline spending data will allow the States and EPA to more accurately estimate the gap between expenditures and needed resources.

Phase III of the Gap Analysis is a one-time collection effort by OWM, and responses to this information collection request (ICR) are voluntary. The collection is necessary to develop an estimate of the gap in resources facing water quality management programs, both for individual States and the nation.

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 in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are identified on the form and/or instrument, if applicable.

Burden Statement: EPA estimates the burden to be 61 hours per respondent for each respondent that chooses to submit information.

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: State water quality management programs.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 20.

Frequency of Response: One time.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 1207.

Estimated Total Annual Cost: $37,648, includes $0 annualized capital or O&M costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 2396 hours in the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease is a result of a different phase of a voluntary, one-time information collection and is due to changes in program requirements and an adjustment to the original estimates.

Dated: August 12, 2003.

Doreen Sterling,

Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.