[Federal Register: January 26, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 16)]
[Notices]               
[Page 3741-3742]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26ja98-70]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5953-7]

 
EPA's National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Data Base

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Announcement of a stakeholder meeting on the National Drinking 
Water Contaminant Occurrence Data Base.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has scheduled a two-
day public meeting on EPA's National Drinking Water Contaminant 
Occurrence Data Base. At the upcoming meeting, EPA is seeking input 
from stakeholders, including national and state representatives, 
environmental organizations, industry, the public, and other interested 
parties. The purpose of the meeting is to seek input from stakeholders 
on the design of the national drinking water contaminant occurrence 
data base to include such issues as data elements, data element 
standardization, reporting, storage, retrieval, use and access. EPA 
encourages the full participation of stakeholders throughout this 
process.

DATES: The stakeholder meeting on the National Drinking Water 
Contaminant Occurrence Data Base will be held on February 12, 1998 from 
9:00-5:00 p.m. EST and on February 13 from 9:00-3:00 p.m. EST.

ADDRESSES: Resolve, Inc. (an EPA contractor) will provide logistical 
support for the stakeholders meeting. The meeting will be held at 
Resolve, Inc., 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 275, Washington, D.C. 20037.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information about the 
meeting logistics, please contact Mr. Jeff Citrin at Resolve, Inc., 
1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 275, Washington, D.C. 20037; phone: (202) 
944-2300; fax: (202) 338-1264, or e-mail at jcitrin@resolv.org.
    Members of the public wishing to attend the meeting may register by 
phone by contacting Mr. Jeff Citrin by February 2, 1998. Those 
registered for the meeting will receive background materials prior to 
the meeting.
    For other information on the National Drinking Water Contaminant 
Occurrence Data Base, please contact Charles Job at the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Phone: 202-260-7084, Fax: 202-260-
3762, or e-mail at job.charles@epamail.epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background on the National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence 
Data Base

    The Safe Drinking Water Act, SDWA, as amended in 1996, states that: 
Not later than three years after the date of enactment of the Safe 
Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, the Administrator shall assemble 
and maintain a national drinking water contaminant occurrence data base 
using information on the occurrence of both regulated and unregulated 
contaminants in public water systems obtained under section 
1445(a)(1)(A) or section 1445(a)(2) and reliable information from other 
public and private sources. The National Drinking Water Contaminant 
Occurrence Data Base is required to be developed by August 6, 1999.

B. Request for Stakeholder Involvement

    EPA has convened this public meeting to hear the views of 
stakeholders on the next stage (i.e., design) of the National Drinking 
Water Contaminant Occurrence Data Base development. The EPA National 
Contaminant Occurrence Data Base (NCOD) project Team will soon be 
making final recommendations on the

[[Page 3742]]

data elements that will be the foundation for future regulated and 
unregulated contaminant occurrence data reporting. The data submitted 
using these data elements will provide the basis for the Administrator 
to determine whether or not to regulate contaminants in the future. For 
chemical contaminants, a series of meetings have been held with a 
diverse group of EPA, state, public water system, public health, 
consumer, and environmental groups, which identified a number of data 
elements that should be considered for reporting. The majority of the 
data elements are already in the structure of the EPA Safe Drinking 
Water Information System (SDWIS). A preliminary categorization of the 
remaining data elements indicates that some could be dropped because of 
potential duplication with other data elements, others could be derived 
from other data elements in the SDWIS structure, and the rest are new 
data elements. The new data elements are principally focused on: 
quality assurance, representativeness of the sample, laboratory 
information, sample location, and well information.
    Additionally, the meeting will address such issues as:
    1. What specific data element standards should be used?
    2. How will electronic reporting by States, public water systems 
and/or laboratories best be accomplished?
    3. What electronic platform(s) should be used to support the NCOD, 
recognizing public access as a major consideration in data base design?
    4. What options for data retrieval should be considered?
    5. In what ways will EPA use the data?
    6. How should the data be analyzed?
    7. What information should be available to the public?
    The public is invited to provide comments on the issues listed 
above or other issues related to the National Drinking Water 
Contaminant Occurrence Data Base during the February 12-13, 1998 
meeting.

    Dated: January 21, 1998.
Cynthia Dougherty,
Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water.
[FR Doc. 98-1762 Filed 1-23-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P