2019-20086. Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

AGENCY:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION:

Notice with comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled “Assessment of Potential Exposure from Private Wells for Drinking Water.” The goal of this generic clearance information collection request is to expedite investigations to assess private well water for drinking in response to specific investigation requests.

DATES:

CDC must receive written comments on or before November 18, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2019-0080 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments to Regulations.gov.

Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: [phone]; Email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:

1. 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;

2. 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;

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

4. 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 submissions of responses.

5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

Assessment of Potential Exposure from Private Wells for Drinking Water (OMB Control No. 0920-1173, Exp.3/31/2020)—Extension—National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (SDWA) ensures that most Americans are provided access to water that meets established public health standards. However, for over 38 million Americans who rely on private wells or other drinking water not protected by the SDWA (herein referred to as private wells), that is not the case. There is no comprehensive knowledge about the locations of private wells, the populations served by these sources, potential contaminants that might be present in private well water in specific areas of the country, or the potential health risks associated with drinking water from these sources.

The purpose of this Generic Information Collection Request (Generic ICR) is to assess the health risks associated with exposure to contaminants in drinking water from private wells across varied geographic areas of the United States in partnership with the requesting agency (state, territorial, local, or tribal health department). The information obtained from these investigations will be used to describe health risks from exposure to contaminants in drinking water from private wells within a defined time period and geographic distribution. This information will be used to inform public health protection activities conducted by the requesting agencies.

The respondents are defined as adults at least 18 years old, who use private wells for drinking water, who are willing to receive and return a tap water sampling kit and urine specimen kit or to provide a blood specimen, and who are willing to answer survey questions. They will be recruited from geographic areas of interest as defined by the requesting agency. Based on our historical activities, we estimate that CDC will conduct up to 10 investigations per year. Each investigation will involve on average 200 respondents. The total time burden is 2,084 hours. There will be no cost to the respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of respondents	Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden (in hours)
Adults at least 18 years old using a private well for tap water	Screening Form Questionnaire	2,500 2,000	1 1	6/60 35/60	250 1,167
	Urine Specimen and Tap Water Sample Collection	2,000	1	20/60	667
Total					2,084

Jeffrey M. Zirger,

Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.