[Federal Register: July 30, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 146)]
[Notices]
[Page 44758-44760]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30jy03-49]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7536-6]
Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations for
Additional Expertise for the Consultation on EPA's Strategy on
Suspended and Bedded Sediments
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is
requesting nominations to add additional expertise to the SAB
Ecological Processes and Effects Committee for a panel to provide a
consultation to EPA on Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS).
DATES: Nominations should be submitted by August 20, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Nominations should be submitted in electronic format through
the Form for Nominating Individuals to Panels of the EPA Science
Advisory Board provided on the SAB Web site, www.epa.gov/sab. To be
considered, all nominations must include the information required on
that form. Anyone who is unable to submit nominations via this form may
contact Dr. L. Joseph Bachman, Designated Federal Officer as indicated
below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing
further information regarding this Request for Nomination may contact
Dr. L. Joseph Bachman, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), via telephone/
voice mail at (202) 564-3968; via e-mail at bachman.joseph@epa.gov; or
at U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board (1400A), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW.,
Washington DC 20460. General information about the SAB can be found in
the SAB web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Summary: The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board
[[Page 44759]]
Staff Office is requesting nominations to add expertise to the Science
Advisory Board's Ecological Processes and Effects Committee to form a
Panel on Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS). The EPA Office of Water
is preparing a strategy for developing water quality criteria guidance
for SABS, which will examine and evaluate the most promising scientific
approaches for doing this. The Panel on Suspended and Bedded Sediments
will provide a consultation on the Strategy, reporting through the EPA
Science Advisory Board to the Agency.
The SAB was established by 42 U.S.C. 4365 to provide independent
scientific and technical advice, consultation, and recommendations to
the EPA Administrator on the technical basis for Agency positions and
regulations. The SAB Staff Office provides technical and administrative
support to the SAB in conducting its mission.
The project the Panel on Suspended and Bedded Sediments will
undertake is expected to be a one-day consultation. Over that period,
the Panel will comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate
SAB procedural policies, including the SAB process for panel formation
described in the ``Overview of the Panel Formation Process at the
Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board,'' which can be
found on the SAB's Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.
Those selected to serve on the Panel will review the draft materials
identified in this notice and respond to the charge questions provided
below.
Background
Water Quality Standards: States, and Tribes with authorization to
conduct a water quality standards program, are required by section
303(c) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) to adopt water quality standards.
Such water quality standards must protect public health and welfare,
protect designated uses, enhance the quality of water and serve the
purposes of the CWA. Water quality standards consist of a designated
use(s) for a water body, water quality criteria to protect the
designated use(s), and an antidegradation policy. Section 101(a) of the
CWA specifies that water quality standards should provide, wherever
attainable, ``water quality which provides for the protection and
propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for
recreation in and on the water.'' Section 303(c) states that water
quality standards should be established for water bodies taking into
consideration their use and value for public water supplies;
propagation of fish and wildlife, recreational, agricultural,
industrial, navigation, and other purposes.
EPA, under section 304(a) of the CWA periodically publishes water
quality criteria guidance for use by States and Tribes in setting water
quality standards. This guidance typically contains recommended water
quality criteria values or criteria development methodologies. Water
quality criteria are levels of individual pollutants or water quality
characteristics, or descriptions of conditions of a water body that, if
met, will generally protect the designated use(s). Water quality
criteria published pursuant to section 304(a) of the CWA are based
solely on data and scientific judgements on the relationship between
pollutant concentrations and environmental and human health effects and
do not reflect consideration of economic impacts or the technological
feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations in ambient water.
States and Tribes may adopt EPA's recommended criteria into their
water quality standards or they may adopt water quality criteria
modified to reflect site-specific conditions, or criteria derived using
other scientifically defensible methods. These criteria recommendations
have been critical tools for the States, Tribes, and EPA to control
most forms of pollution and improve water quality across the Nation.
Within recent years, however, the States and EPA have identified
new issues that are causing significant water quality problems for
which water quality criteria have yet to be published or updated. One
such concern is the imbalance of suspended solids and bedded sediments
(SABS) in water bodies. In many water bodies, SABS are severely out of
balance due to human activities within the watershed. In most cases the
problem is excessive sediments, but in some cases the problem is too
little sediment.
Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS): Suspended and bedded
sediments are defined by EPA as particulate organic and inorganic
matter that suspend in or are carried by the water, and/or accumulate
in a loose, unconsolidated form on the bottom of natural water bodies.
This includes clean sediment, suspended sediment concentration (SSC),
total suspended solids (TSS), bedload, turbidity, or in more common
terms, dirt, soils or eroded materials.
In excessive amounts, SABS constitute a major ecosystem stressor.
According to the National Water Quality Inventory--2000 Report,
excessive sediment was the leading cause of impairment of the Nation's
waters. The highest frequency of impairment was reported for rivers and
streams, followed by lakes, reservoirs, ponds, and estuaries.
SABS can impair surface water designated uses in various ways.
Excessive sediment deposits can severely impact aquatic-life uses by
choking spawning gravels, depleting food sources for fish, filling
rearing pools, and reducing beneficial habitat structure in stream
channels. Sediments can impair aesthetic uses and can cause taste,
odor, and other problems in drinking water supplies. Excessive sediment
can block water-supply intakes and disturb treatment systems. Excessive
turbidity can make swimming and other recreational uses of waters
dangerous or undesirable. Turbidity can also block light transmission
to the subsurface and disrupt the growth of submerged aquatic
vegetation. Insufficient sediment supply can cause impairments to
aquatic life uses by resulting in stream channel scour and destruction
of habitat.
SABS present a water-quality problem different from that of manmade
toxic compounds and similar to that of nutrients, as they naturally
occur in water bodies, and in natural or background amounts, they are
essential to the ecological function of a water body. These functions
include transporting nutrients and replenishing sediment bedloads that
create valuable micro-habitats, such as pools and sand bars. Thus, a
basic premise for managing suspended and bedded sediments in water
bodies to protect aquatic-life uses may be the need to maintain natural
levels of SABS in water bodies.
There are also other types of designated uses of water bodies,
other than aquatic life, which need to be protected from SABS. These
include recreation in and on the water, shipping, drinking water
sources, industrial water use and agricultural water use. The premise
that SABS levels should be maintained at natural levels may not
necessarily be valid for these types of uses. However, water bodies may
have multiple use designations including aquatic life as well as those
other uses listed above.
Water Quality Criteria for SABS: In 1976, EPA issued a water
quality criteria recommendation for solids and turbidity that uses a
10% reduction of the depth of the compensation point for photosynthetic
activity. For a variety of reasons, this criterion is seldom, if ever,
used by the States. It is questionable whether this criterion would
achieve intended protection for all different designated uses for water
bodies.
[[Page 44760]]
Although most States currently have water quality criteria that can
be applied to manage SABS, these are typically based on turbidity,
suspended solids or settleable solids, and their effectiveness for
dealing with all water quality impairments caused by SABS, especially
as benchmarks for aquatic life protection based on natural levels, is
questionable. In recent consultation with State representatives, the
need for new water quality criteria for SABS or methodologies for
deriving them on a site-specific basis was identified as one of the
highest priorities for the water quality criteria program. As a result,
the EPA Office of Water has concluded that to better manage SABS in all
types of water bodies and for all designated uses, State and Tribal
water quality managers need new and updated water quality criteria and
information for SABS.
The potential approaches for criteria development that EPA's Office
of Water is considering investigating in the Strategy for Developing
Water Quality Criteria for Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS)
include the following:
(1) State-by-State Reference Condition Criteria Derivation
Approach;
(2) Conditional Probability Approach to Establishing Thresholds;
(3) Toxicological Dose-Response Approach;
(4) Relative Bed Stability and Sedimentation Approach;
(5) Rosgen Geomorphological Approach;
(6) Water Body Use Functional Approach; and
(7) Combinations of above approaches.
General information about water-quality criteria and water-quality
standards can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/.
Information of obtaining a copy of the draft
Strategy for Developing Water Quality Criteria for Suspended and Bedded
Sediments will be provided at the time the formal meeting announcement
is made for this consultation in September, or will be posted on the
SAB Web site once the draft is provided to the SAB, whichever is
earlier.
Proposed Charge to the Panel: While many questions and much
research remain, EPA seeks the opportunity for a consultation with the
Science Advisory Board to gain advice and recommendations on the best
potential approaches to developing water quality criteria for suspended
and bedded sediments as will be described in a draft Strategy for
Developing Water Quality Criteria for Suspended and Bedded Sediments
(SABS) to be prepared by the Office of Water. The Office of Water is
also seeking recommendations on additional criteria development
approaches for uses of water bodies other than aquatic life, and it is
also seeking advice on any potential criteria derivation methodology
not included in the Strategy.
SAB Request for Nominations: The EPA SAB is requesting nominations
of individuals who are recognized, national-level experts in one or
more of the following disciplines to supplement the expertise of the
EPEC for this consultation: (a) Fluvial hydrogeomorphology; (b) fluvial
habitat dynamics; (c) sediment and turbidity monitoring; and (d)
fisheries biology.
Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals to add
expertise in the above areas for the panel for the consultation on the
water quality strategy for suspended and bedded sediments.
Anyone who is unable to submit nominations in electronic format may
contact Dr. L. Joseph Bachman at the mailing address given earlier in
this notice under the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Nominations should be submitted before August 20, 2003. Any questions
concerning either this process or any other aspects of this notice
should be directed to Dr. Bachman.
The EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office will acknowledge
receipt of nominations and inform nominators of the panel selected.
From the nominees identified by respondents to this Federal Register
notice (termed the ``Widecast''), SAB Staff will develop a smaller
subset (known as the ``Short List'') for more detailed consideration.
Criteria used by the SAB Staff in developing this Short List are given
at the end of the following paragraph. The Short List will be posted on
the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab, and will include, for each
candidate, the nominee's name and their biosketch. Public comments will
be accepted for 21 calendar days on the Short List. During this comment
period, the public will be requested to provide information, analysis
or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff should consider
in evaluating candidates for the specific expertise to add to the panel
for the consultation on the water quality strategy for suspended and
bedded sediments.
For the EPA SAB, a balanced panel (i.e., committee, subcommittee,
or panel) is characterized by inclusion of candidates who possess the
necessary domains of knowledge, the relevant scientific perspectives
(which, among other factors, can be influenced by work history and
affiliation), and the collective breadth of experience to adequately
address the charge. Public responses to the Short List candidates will
be considered in the selection of the panel, along with information
provided by candidates and information gathered by EPA SAB Staff Office
independently on the background of each candidate (e.g., financial
disclosure information and computer searches to evaluate a nominee's
prior involvement with the topic under review). Specific criteria to be
used in evaluating an individual subcommittee or panel member include:
(a) Scientific and/or technical expertise, knowledge, and experience
(primary factors); (b) scientific credibility and impartiality; (c)
availability and willingness to serve; (b) absence of financial
conflicts of interest; and (e) ability to work constructively and
effectively in committees.
Short List candidates will also be required to fill-out the
``Confidential Financial Disclosure Form for Special Government
Employees Serving on Federal Advisory Committees at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency'' (EPA Form 3110-48). This confidential
form, which is submitted by EPA SAB Members and Consultants, allows
Government officials to determine whether there is a statutory conflict
between that person's public responsibilities (which includes
membership on an EPA Federal advisory committee) and private interests
and activities, or the appearance of a lack of impartiality, as defined
by Federal regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the
following URL address: http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/epaform3110-48.pdf.
Panel members will be asked to attend one public meeting in late
September or early October, 2003 in addition to reviewing background
material and a proposed strategy document provided by EPA.
Dated: July 22, 2003.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 03-19276 Filed 7-29-03; 8:45 am]
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