[Federal Register: October 31, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 210)]
[Notices]
[Page 61635-61636]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr31oc07-61]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8489-8]
Notification of a Public Teleconference of the Science Advisory
Board Drinking Water Committee
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is
announcing a public teleconference of the SAB Drinking Water Committee
(DWC) to discuss advisory activities for the coming year.
DATES: The SAB will hold a public teleconference on November 13, 2007.
The teleconference will begin at 1 p.m. and end at 3 p.m. (Eastern
Time).
Location: The teleconference will be conducted by telephone only.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing to
obtain general information concerning this public teleconference or
meeting should contact Dr. Sue Shallal, Designated Federal Officer
(DFO), EPA Science Advisory Board (1400F), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460;
via telephone/voice mail: (202) 343-9977; fax: (202) 233-0643; or e-
mail at: shallal.suhair@epa.gov. General information concerning the EPA
Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA SAB Web Site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab
.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SAB was established by 42 U.S.C. 4365 to
provide independent scientific and technical advice to the
Administrator on the technical basis for Agency positions and
regulations. The SAB is a Federal Advisory Committee chartered under
the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C., App.
The SAB will comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB
Staff Office procedural policies.
Background: EPA's Office of Water has requested that the SAB DWC
evaluate three Agency activities in the coming year. To acquaint the
DWC with these activities, EPA will provide introductory briefings to
the DWC on: (1) The Aircraft Drinking Water Rule; (2) the Drinking
Water Draft Contaminant Candidate List 3; and (3) Waterborne Diseases:
Measures to Link Drinking Water Programs to Public Health Outcomes. The
Agency will offer these briefings to acquaint the DWC with the Agency's
activities in preparation for future meetings. Preliminary background
information on these activities follow.
Aircraft Drinking Water Rule--Under the Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA), any interstate carrier conveyance (ICC) that regularly serves
drinking water to an average of at least 25 individuals daily, at least
60 days per year, is subject to the National Primary Drinking Water
Regulations (NPDWR). An ICC is a carrier which conveys passengers in
interstate commerce. The classes of ICCs include airplanes, trains,
buses, and water vessels. The U.S. EPA is responsible for developing
and implementing the NPDWRs for all public water systems, including
public water systems on ICCs. The existing NPDWRs were designed for
traditional, stationary public water systems, not mobile aircraft water
systems that are operationally very different. EPA is proposing an
Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR) that only addresses aircraft within
U.S. jurisdiction. However, EPA is also supporting an international
effort led by the World Health Organization to develop international
guidelines for aircraft drinking water. The proposed ADWR applies to
the onboard water system only. The Food and Drug Administration is
responsible for regulating the watering points that include the water
cabinets, carts, trucks, and hoses from which aircraft board water. The
Office of Water has asked the DWC to hold a future consultative meeting
on this topic.
Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List Draft Revisions--The 1996
Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments (SDWA) require EPA to (1) publish
every five years a list of currently unregulated contaminants in
drinking water that may pose risks (the Contaminant Candidate List or
``CCL''), and (2) make determinations on whether or not to regulate at
least five contaminants from that list on a staggered five year cycle.
The list must be published after consultation with the scientific
community, including the SAB, after notice and opportunity for public
comment, and after consideration of the occurrence database established
under section 1445(g) of the SDWA. The unregulated contaminants
considered for the list must include, but are not limited to,
substances referred to in section 101(14) of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980
(CERCLA), and substances registered under the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Developing the Contaminant
Candidate List is part of the process of identifying water-borne
threats to public health that need to be addressed by the Agency. EPA
published and finalized the first CCL (CCL1) on March 2, 1998 (63 FR
10273). CCL1 contained 50 chemicals and 10 microbial contaminants/
groups and was developed using technical experts who reviewed readily
available information. EPA consulted with the scientific community,
including the SAB, on a process for developing the first CCL. EPA
published and finalized the second CCL (CCL2) on February 24, 2005 (70
FR 9071). CCL2 carried forward the remaining 51 chemical and microbial
contaminants/groups listed on CCL1. The Office of Water has asked the
DWC to peer review the draft CCL 3 at a future meeting.
Waterborne Diseases: Measures to Link Drinking Water Programs to
Public Health Outcomes--The EPA Office of Water (OW) submitted a draft
Measure Development Plan to OMB in October, 2004. As identified in the
plan, the focus of OW's activities is to develop a health-based
performance measure built on sound scientific data that relates program
actions to potential decrease in waterborne disease incidence. EPA's
goal is to develop long-term measures
[[Page 61636]]
that describe changes over time of disease due to drinking water
contamination or changes in the occurrence of indicators of waterborne
disease; the objective is to demonstrate the effectiveness of drinking
water programs on acute and chronic disease related to microbes or
other drinking water contaminants. The Office of Water is currently
developing approaches to the health-based measure to include in the
Agency's next Strategic Plan with input from the National Drinking
Water Advisory Council and has asked the DWC to hold a future
consultative meeting on this topic.
Availability of Materials: The draft agenda and other materials
will be posted on the SAB Web Site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab prior to
the teleconference.
Procedures for Providing Public Input: Interested members of the
public may submit relevant written or oral information for the SAB to
consider during the public teleconference and/or meeting. Oral
Statements: In general, individuals or groups requesting an oral
presentation at a public SAB teleconference will be limited to three
minutes per speaker, with no more than a total of one-half hour for all
speakers. To be placed on the public speaker list, interested parties
should contact Dr. Sue Shallal, DFO, in writing (preferably via e-
mail), by November 6, 2007, at the contact information noted above.
Written Statements: Written statements should be received in the SAB
Staff Office in accordance with the dates mentioned above so that the
information may be made available to the SAB for their consideration
prior to each teleconference. Written statements should be supplied to
the DFO in the following formats: one hard copy with original
signature, and one electronic copy via e-mail (acceptable file format:
Adobe Acrobat PDF, WordPerfect, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, or Rich Text
files in IBM-PC/Windows 98/2000/XP format).
Accessibility: For information on access or services for
individuals with disabilities, please contact Dr. Sue Shallal at (202)
343-9977 or shallal.suhair@epa.gov. To request accommodation of a
disability, please contact Dr. Shallal preferably at least ten days
prior to the teleconference, to give EPA as much time as possible to
process your request.
Dated October 25, 2007.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. E7-21446 Filed 10-30-07; 8:45 am]
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