2048ss07

The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act amends the Clean Water Act (CWA) in part and authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award BEACH Act Grants to coastal and Great Lakes states, tribes, and territories (collectively referred to as jurisdictions) to develop and implement beach monitoring and notification programs. The grants assist those jurisdictions to develop and implement a consistent approach to monitor coastal recreational water quality; assess, manage, and communicate health risks from waterborne microbial contamination; notify the public of pollution occurrences; and post beach advisories and closures to prevent public exposure to microbial pathogens.

Per CWA section 406 (33 U.S. Code 1346), to qualify for a BEACH Act grant a jurisdiction must submit information to EPA documenting that its beach monitoring and notification program is consistent with performance criteria outlined in the National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants, 2014 Edition. In addition, recipients of BEACH Act grants must submit water quality monitoring data and information on public notification actions to EPA. All beach program information will be collected by EPA’s Office of Science and Technology, stored in the Beach Advisory and Closing On-line Notification (BEACON) system, and accessible via EPA’s Beaches website for use by the public; state, tribal, territorial, and local environmental and public health agencies; and EPA.

This Information Collection Request (ICR) renews the BEACH Act Grant Program ICR, OMB Control Number 2040-0244, which is approved through April 30, 2023. This ICR renewal describes the estimated burden associated with the information collection of water quality monitoring data and public notification actions from recipients of BEACH Act grants.

EPA anticipates the respondent burden associated with the renewed ICR to be 319,522 hours, an increase from the previously approved burden of 88,569 hours. The new burden reflects fully capturing the time to collect water quality samples (+226,180 hours), the addition of one tribe (+722 hours for developmental phase activities and +6,262 hours for implementation phase activities), the restructuring of activities into those for programs in the developmental phase and implementation phases, and subsequent recalculation of the burden associated with restructured activities (-2,211 hours).

2. Need for and Use of the Collection

2(a) Need/Authority for the Collection

Authorities: Section 406 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S. Code (U.S.C.) 1346.

The BEACH Act (Public Law 106-284) established a grant program to assist marine coastal and Great Lakes states and tribes treated as a state in accordance with 33 U.S.C. 1377(e) in implementing a uniform monitoring and notification program for their coastal recreational waters^¹. As a condition of receipt of a BEACH Act grant, eligible jurisdictions must show evidence of meeting the performance criteria and the conditions under the BEACH Act. Therefore, a jurisdiction applying for a grant must submit information on its program as part of its grant application to document that its program is consistent with the performance criteria. BEACH Act grant recipients also are required to submit to EPA data collected as part of their program for monitoring and notification, and actions taken to notify the public when water quality standards are exceeded. Those requirements are found in 33 U.S.C. 1346b(3)(A) and (B). EPA is required to develop, maintain, and make available to the public a national database that provides the data reported by the jurisdictions. That requirement is found in 33 U.S.C. 1346e.

2(b) Practical Utility/Users of the Data

Data will be used by EPA; state, tribal, territorial, and local environmental and public health agencies; and the public. EPA will use the information submitted by jurisdictions to maintain a publicly available national database of coastal recreational water pollution occurrences, to determine whether programs are consistent with the performance criteria and the BEACH Act, to develop an annual report that includes national-level statistics of beach closings and advisories issued by jurisdictions during the preceding swimming season and beach data trends over several years, and to submit a quadrennial report to Congress on the progress that states, tribes, territories, EPA, and other federal agencies have made on implementing the BEACH Act, as required in 33 U.S.C. 1375a. State, tribal, territorial, and local environmental and public health agencies will use the data as an indicator of program performance, and the public will use the data to make informed decisions about participating in water recreation activities at the beach.

3. Non-duplication, Consultations, and Other Collection Criteria

3(a) Non-duplication

The information collection requirements described in this ICR do not duplicate the information collection requirements described in other EPA ICRs. The information documenting that a jurisdiction is meeting the performance criteria and the conditions under the BEACH Act is required for receipt of a BEACH Act grant and is not available from other sources. In addition, BEACH Act grant recipients are required to submit water quality monitoring data and information on notification actions. EPA’s data systems are designed for jurisdictions to upload data directly from their own data systems; this reduces duplication.

3(b) Public Notice Required Prior to ICR Submission to OMB

The EPA published a Federal Register notice (July 11, 2022, 87 FR 41124) soliciting public comments and information to enable it to (1) evaluate whether the proposed collection of information in this proposed ICR is necessary and will have practical utility; (2) evaluate the accuracy of the Agency’s estimate of the burden estimates and the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) enhance the quality, utility, and clarify the information to be collected; and (4) minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond. The Agency received one comment and it was supportive of the proposed ICR. The burden estimate did not change as a result of that comment. See section 6(g) for instructions on providing comments on this ICR.

3(c) Consultations

For this ICR renewal, EPA reached out to seven states (Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin) and one tribe (Swinomish Indian Tribal Community) for consultation on the burden associated with the providing the required information to EPA under the BEACH Act. All jurisdictions who responded concurred that the estimates and assumptions for the burden hours and costs are fairly accurate. Two jurisdictions suggested the cost to analyze each sample was too low, and one jurisdiction offered suggestions for increasing the managerial hours for grant recipients whose beach programs are in the developmental stage; such suggestions were incorporated. One jurisdiction stated the data submission burden estimates for programs in the implementation stage were too high unless there were technical issues when submitting data; that estimate was not changed to not underestimate the burden when those circumstances occur.

3(d) Effects of Less Frequent Collection

The requirement for a jurisdiction receiving a BEACH Act grant to submit its monitoring and notification data is a statutory requirement under the BEACH Act. The frequency and format of submittals is at the Administrator’s discretion [see CWA section 406(b)(B)(3)]. Since 2003, EPA has required jurisdictions to submit their monitoring and notification data annually. To provide more up-to-date information to the public on the status of their beaches, EPA encourages more frequent reporting; however, the Agency continues to require data submissions annually.

3(e) General Guidelines

The BEACH Act Grant Program will be conducted in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act [Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) section 1320.5(d)(2)] and will adhere to OMB’s general guidelines for information collections.

3(f) Confidentiality

Measures to ensure the confidentiality of the collected beach monitoring and notification data are not necessary because the information submitted by the respondents is public information.

3(g) Sensitive Questions

No information of sensitive nature will be collected as a result of this ICR.

4. The Respondents and the Information Requested

4(a) Respondents

As of the posting of this document, there are 30 states and five U.S. territories with marine coastal or Great Lakes recreational waters who receive BEACH Act grants and thus are required to submit to EPA information on meeting the BEACH Act performance criteria, water quality monitoring data, and information on public notification actions. The coastal marine states and territories are Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. The “Great Lakes states” are Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania has delegated implementation of the BEACH Act monitoring and notification program to Erie County, the only jurisdiction within the state along coastal waters.

In addition, the BEACH Act authorized eligible tribes to receive BEACH Act grants; they include tribes who have been approved to be treated in a manner similar to a state and have EPA-approved water quality standards to protect recreational uses of coastal recreation waters. As of November 2022, there are four tribes who receive BEACH Act grants and thus are required to submit water quality monitoring data and information on notification actions to EPA. Those tribes are Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Makah Tribe of the Makah Indian Reservation, and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

Each state, territory, or tribe is referred to as a “jurisdiction” throughout this ICR document.

4(b) Information Requested

The EPA is requiring different information, depending on whether the jurisdiction’s beach monitoring and notification program is in the developmental or implementation stage.

For EPA to award a BEACH Act grant to a jurisdiction whose program is in the developmental stage, that jurisdiction must document that its coastal monitoring and notification program includes or will include the performance criteria mentioned in the BEACH Act and described in National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants (EPA-823-B-14-001, hereafter referred to as the National Beach Guidance), which can be found in the ICR docket. Chapter 2 of the National Beach Guidance addresses the performance criteria that a grantee’s program must be consistent with in order to be eligible for a grant. The remaining chapters of the guidance discuss specific requirements for each criterion in more detail. The relevant performance criteria² require jurisdictions to:

Develop a risk-based beach evaluation and classification process and apply it to coastal recreation waters/beaches.
Develop a tiered monitoring plan that includes the frequency, locations, and methods of monitoring and assessment of coastal waters.
Develop a methods and assessment procedures plan.
Develop a mechanism to collect and report monitoring data.
Describe delegation of monitoring responsibilities to local governments (if applicable).
Develop a public notification and risk communication plan.
Notify the public when indicator bacteria levels exceed a beach notification threshold or when the coastal recreation waters are not meeting or are not expected to meet applicable water quality standards for pathogens and pathogen indicators.
Compile and submit to EPA the public notification actions that were taken.
Describe delegation of notification responsibilities to local governments (if applicable).
Provide the public with an opportunity to review the program through public notice and an opportunity to comment.

Jurisdictions receiving BEACH Act grants for established programs in the implementation stage are expected to perform the following activities, in support of meeting the performance criteria:

Assemble and submit required paperwork for grants, including applications, work plans, quality assurance performance plans, and annual reports.
Determine if program changes are needed and submit program changes to EPA.
Prepare and train personnel for monitoring.
Monitor coastal water quality.
Issue public notifications when indicator bacteria levels exceed a beach notification threshold or when the coastal recreation waters are not meeting or are not expected to meet applicable water quality standards for pathogens and pathogen indicators.
Make monitoring data available to the public (e.g., post online).
Submit water quality monitoring and public notification data to EPA.

5. The Information Collected-Agency Activities, Collection Methodology, and Information Management

5(a) Agency Activities

The BEACH Act requires EPA to devote time and resources to manage the grant program. EPA administers BEACH Act grants according to the EPA grant regulations at 40 CFR part 31 and the statutory requirements in Clean Water Act section 406. EPA conducts the following activities in administering the BEACH Act grants:

EPA Headquarters determines allocations of beach grants to jurisdictions in accordance with an allocation formula published in 68 FR 15446 and a supplemental allocation formula published in 75 FR 1373; creates funding recommendation templates for the beach grants; monitors programs of grant recipients annually to ensure compliance with the performance criteria; provides miscellaneous support to the jurisdictions, especially technical assistance for submitting data; maintains the publicly available national database containing jurisdiction-reported data; and prepares a quadrennial report for Congress on federal, state, and tribal implementation of the BEACH Act.
EPA Regions also monitor programs of grant recipients annually to ensure compliance with the performance criteria and provide miscellaneous support to the jurisdictions. In addition, EPA Regions review grant applications, revise work plans, update Quality Management Plans, and perform technical reviews of Quality Assurance Project Plans and Grants Management Plans. EPA Regions also provide support to new jurisdictions receiving BEACH Act grants to develop beach monitoring and notification programs.

5(b) Collection Methodology and Management

The EPA created the Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification (BEACON) system to meet the BEACH Act requirement that the Agency establish and maintain a publicly available database of pollution occurrences for coastal recreation waters. Per the National Beach Guidance, jurisdictions must report their water quality monitoring data (i.e., results of bacterial monitoring tests) and notification data (i.e., warnings to the public of contaminated beaches) to EPA at least annually. The electronic beaches system (eBeaches) is set up so that jurisdictions can directly transmit such data electronically from their databases to EPA as follows. The Agency’s Central Data Exchange System receives the data electronically and automatically sends them to different data systems: water quality data go to the USGS’ and EPA’s Water Quality Portal, beach notification data go to EPA’s PRogram tracking, beach Advisories, Water quality standards, and Nutrients (PRAWN) Notification Data Access Database, and beach location data go to EPA’s Reach Address Database. All of these data can then be accessed by the public through BEACON. Electronic reporting is intended to achieve data collection efficiencies and reduce the possibility of data input error.

It is each jurisdiction’s responsibility to perform data quality assurance/quality control to check for anomalies in the data that might be related to data entry or laboratory errors. Data quality review and analysis typically includes analysis of laboratory results, pollution occurrence events, public notification, and review of all program data. The Agency also reviews the submitted data to check for anomalies in the data or missing information.

5(c) Small Entity Flexibility

The reporting requirements discussed in this ICR do not place an unreasonable burden on small entities because almost all of the respondents for the BEACH Act Grant Program are state, territorial, or tribal government agencies. However, under the BEACH Act (CWA Section 406(a)(B)), EPA may make a grant to a local government for implementing a monitoring and notification program if, after the 1-year period beginning on the date of publication of performance criteria, EPA determines that the state, territorial, or tribal agency is not implementing a program that meets the performance criteria. The BEACH Act (in CWA Section 406(b)(2)(B)) also allows a state to delegate responsibility for implementing the program to a local government, which is the case for Erie County, Pennsylvania.

5(d) Collection Schedule

A jurisdiction must annually show evidence documenting its compliance with the performance criteria as listed in the National Beach Guidance to be eligible for a BEACH Act grant. In addition, the BEACH Act requires jurisdictions to submit their water quality monitoring data and public notification actions to EPA annually, or as determined by the EPA Administrator; EPA requests the data annually.

6. Estimating the Burden and Costs of the Collection

In this section, EPA calculates respondent and Agency burden and costs.

The respondent and EPA burden is generally based on estimates of the burden hours for each response multiplied by estimates of the number of responses expected.
The respondent and EPA labor cost is based on the burden hours calculated above multiplied by estimated personnel compensation rates for each class of respondent. These rates are estimated as follows:
- Labor costs for state, territorial, and tribal managers were estimated using the median hourly rate for management (BLS Occupation Code 11-0000) of $49.55.³ Overhead costs are expected to be 60 percent, or $29.73 per hour, yielding a total hourly rate of $79.28.
- Labor costs for state or tribal technical employees were estimated using the median hourly rate for life, physical and social science technicians (BLS Occupation Code 19-4000) of $23.60.⁴ Overhead costs are expected to be 60 percent, or $14.16 per hour, yielding a total hourly rate of $37.76.
- Labor costs for EPA headquarters employees were estimated using the hourly rate of a GS-14, Step 1 federal employee, of $60.49.⁵ Overhead costs are expected to be 60 percent, or $36.29 per hour, yielding a total hourly rate of $96.78.
- Labor costs for EPA regional employees were estimated using the hourly rate of a GS-12, Step 1 federal employee, of $ 32.73.⁶ Overhead costs are expected to be 60 percent, or $19.64 per hour, yielding a total hourly rate of $52.37.
The operations and maintenance (O&M) costs are estimated separately.

There are no capital expenses in this ICR.

In developing burden estimates, this ICR generally uses conservative assumptions (i.e., assumptions designed to avoid underestimating the burden).

6(a) Estimating Respondent Burden and Costs

The BEACH Act requires jurisdictions receiving grants to devote time and resources to develop and implement a monitoring and notification program to meet the performance criteria outlined in the National Beach Guidance. The time and effort required to meet the performance criteria differs significantly between programs in the developmental stage and implementation stage. Therefore, separate respondent burden estimates are developed for such programs.

For programs in the development stage, EPA estimates one respondent during the three-year period of this ICR. That is, once every three years, one tribal jurisdiction would become eligible to receive BEACH Act grants and develop a monitoring and notification program and be required to submit information to EPA.

For established programs in the implementation phase, EPA estimates 40 annual respondents during the three-year period of this ICR. The 40 respondents include the 39 jurisdictions who currently receive BEACH Act grants as well as the one newly eligible tribe after it has moved from the development stage to the implementation stage during the period of this ICR.

Grant Activities for Programs in the Developmental Stage

Respondent burden: EPA has estimated the respondent burden for all aspects of developing a beach program described in section 4(b), shown in Table 1. EPA estimates that the annual burden on the average jurisdiction for these actions is 124 hours for beach program managers and 598 hours for technical staff. Based on an estimated one new jurisdiction every three years, the total estimated burden hours are (722 hours) * (1 jurisdiction) = 722 hours.

Respondent labor costs: Total estimated annual costs are [(124 hours) * ($79.28 per hour)] + [(598 hours) * ($37.76 per hour)] = $32,411, rounded to the nearest dollar.

Table 1. Burden Associated with Activities for a Program in the Developmental Stage

Activity	Managerial burden (hours)	Technical burden (hours)
Identify and tier coastal recreational waters.	35	200
Provide for public review of coastal recreational waters and tier classifications.	10	90
Develop monitoring methods, monitoring plans, and associated QA/QC measures.	50	240
Submit monitoring methods and monitoring plan to EPA for approval.	4	16
Develop methods to inform EPA and local governments when indicator bacteria have exceeded a beach notification threshold.	10	12
Develop methods to inform and notify the public about potential risks associated with water quality.	10	24
Provide for public review of public notification and risk communication plan.	5	16
Total	124	598

Annual Grant Activities for Programs in the Implementation Stage

Respondent labor burden: EPA has estimated the respondent burden for all aspects of administering the beach program described in section 4(b), shown in Table 2. EPA estimates that the annual burden on the average jurisdiction for these actions is 445 hours for beach program managers and 7,525 hours for technical staff. Based on a total of 40 jurisdictions, the total estimated burden hours are (7,970 hours) * (40 jurisdictions) = 318,800 hours.

Respondent labor costs: Total estimated annual costs are [(445 hours) * ($79.28 per hour) + (7,525 hours) * ($37.76 per hour)] * (40 jurisdictions) = $12,776,944, rounded to the nearest dollar.

Respondent O&M costs: Total estimated annual costs for 40 jurisdictions are $9,515,800 for analyzing coastal water quality samples, explained after Table 2.

Table 2. Burden Associated with Annual Grant Activities for a Program in the Implementation Stage

Area	Activity	1-year managerial burden (hours)	1-year technical burden (hours)
Grant Application	Assemble and submit required paperwork for grant application	4	30
Grant Paperwork	Write and submit annual report or final report and grant close-out paperwork	4	80
Program Implementation	Determine if any of these are needed and provide opportunity for public comment/review, if appropriate: - changes to list and/or tiering of beaches - changes to monitoring frequency or method - changes to public notification and risk communication - other program changes	4	40
	Submit program changes to EPA	2	8
	Prepare and train personnel for monitoring	8	60
	Monitor coastal water quality	0	5947
	Issue public notification for exceedance of the beach notification threshold	123	616
	Make monitoring data available to the public (e.g., post online)	100	480
Data Submission	Submit monitoring and public notification data to EPA	200	264
Total		445	7525

In addition to labor costs, the states, territories, and tribes incur O&M costs associated with the analytical fees and shipping for the water quality samples. Non-labor costs are solely attributed to the laboratory fees that will be charged for analysis and to any shipping charges for sending the samples to the appropriate laboratory.

The following assumptions, based on data collected by EPA and consultations with respondents listed in section 3(c), were used to calculate the O&M costs for respondents:

The average cost of sample analysis is $40 per sample.
The average number of water quality samples analyzed is 237,895⁷ per year, based on information jurisdictions reported to EPA in 2017, 2018, and 2019. EPA used those years instead of more recent years to eliminate any COVID-19-related impacts to the average number of samples collected and analyzed.

The total annual O&M costs for respondents were calculated using the following equation:

237,895 samples/year × $40/sample = $9,515,800 per year

6(b) Estimating Agency Burden and Costs

Agency burden: EPA has estimated the Agency burden for all aspects of administering the BEACH Act Grant Program described in section 5(a), shown in Table 3. The total estimated burden hours are 3,432 hours.

Agency labor costs: Total estimated annual costs are [(2,712 hours) * ($52.37 per hour)] + [(720 hours) * ($96.78 per hour)] = $211,709, rounded to the nearest dollar.

Agency O&M costs: Total estimated annual costs are $440,000 for contractor help to maintain the eBeaches system and provide technical help to jurisdictions submitting data.

Table 3 presents an estimate of the annual burden that EPA will incur to manage the BEACH Act Grant Program.

Table 3. Burden Associated with Annual Agency Activities

Group	Burden (hours)
EPA Regions	2,712
EPA Headquarters	720
Total	3,432

6(c) Estimating Total Burden and Costs for Respondents and EPA

Table 4 shows the estimate of the total annual burden and costs for the respondents and Agency expected for the BEACH Act Grant Program. The annual burden for the Agency and states, tribes, and territories with coastal recreation waters is 322,954 hours and $22,976,864.

Table 4. Total annual respondent and Agency burden and costs

Group	Burden (hours)	Labor cost	O&M cost	Total cost
Respondents	319,522	$12,809,355	$9,515,800	$22,325,155
Agency	3,432	$211,709	$440,000	$651,709
Total	322,954	$13,021,064	$9,955,800	$22,976,864

6(e) Reasons for Change in Burden

There is an increase of 230,953 hours (from 88,569 to 319,522) in the total respondent burden compared with the ICR approved by OMB in April 2020. This increase is in response to feedback to better account for labor costs and to structure the ICR to better align with the burden associated with the present program. Specifically, the increase is due to three main reasons: (1) fully capturing the respondent labor associated with collecting water quality samples, (2) the restructuring of activities into developmental and implementation program stages and subsequent recalculation of the associated burden, and (3) the anticipated addition of one tribal respondent.

The burden associated with sampling water quality in the previous ICR only captured “resamples” collected before issuing a notification if there was a reason to doubt the accuracy of the first sample. Including all water quality samples collected added 226,180 hours to the total respondent burden.
In addition, the previous ICR was mainly based on activities to meet the performance criteria in the National Beach Guidance, and most of those activities are associated with beach programs in the developmental stage, rather than established programs in the implementation stage. In this ICR, the burden reflects activities for programs in the development phase (such as those needed to meet the performance criteria) or activities for programs in the implementation phase (such as those related to grant applications, grant paperwork, and data submission).
An additional 6,262 hours are estimated when a newly eligible jurisdiction’s program moves from the developmental to implementation stage and performs the associated implementation stage activities.

The total respondent cost increased by $7.459 M (from $14,865,812 to $22,325,155). The increase in cost is due to the changes in the ICR described above, a 14% increase in the cost to analyze a water sample (from $35 to $40), and slight increases in the salary rates. However, this increase is offset by a $1.5M decrease in respondent O&M cost (from $11,063,780 to $9,515,800), in spite of the increase in sample analysis cost. This decrease in O&M cost resulted from use of actual respondent sampling frequency rather than projected sampling frequency estimates based on assuming water at every beach would be analyzed twice a week.

The Agency burden increased by 117 hours (from 3,315 to 3,432) to fully capture the following: additional EPA Headquarters labor associated with administration of the BEACH Act Grant Program, such as calculating grant allocations and creating funding recommendation templates. In addition, the Agency O&M cost increased in order to provide contractor support to jurisdictions on data submissions and to maintain the statutorily required database.

6(f) Burden Statement

The annual total respondent reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to be 319,522 hours. 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. That includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and use 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. 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 are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and 48 CFR Part 15.

To comment on the Agency’s need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including the use of automated collection techniques, EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0641, which is available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 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 Water Docket is (202) 566-2426. An electronic version of the public docket is available through Regulations.gov at http://www.regulations.gov/. 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, use the Regulations.gov website. Once there, click search, then key in the docket ID number identified above. Also, you can send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget via oira_submission@omb.eop.gov, Attention: Desk Office for the EPA. Please include the EPA Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0641and OMB control number 2040-0244 in any correspondence.

See the accompanying Federal Register notice for instructions to provide comments on the Agency’s need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including the use of automated collection techniques.

1 The BEACH Act (Public Law 106-284) defines coastal recreation waters as “(i) the Great Lakes; and (ii) marine coastal waters (including coastal estuaries) that are designated under section 303(c) by a State for use for swimming, bathing, surfing, or similar water contact activities.”

2 As discussed in the last ICR renewal in 2020, the performance criterion to submit schedules for adoption of new or revised water quality standards and identification and use of a beach notification threshold is no longer required for respondents because existing grantees have adopted appropriate water quality standards for recreation and have identified beach notification thresholds and any new grantee would have them in order to be eligible for a grant.

3 Management (Occupation Code 11-0000) median rate from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 2021 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for NAICS 999200 - State Government, excluding schools and hospitals. See https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_999200.htm#11-0000

4 Life, Physical and Social Science Technicians (Occupation Code 19-4000) median rate from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 2021 National Occupational Employment and Wage for NAICS 999200 - State Government, excluding schools and hospitals. See https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_999200.htm#19-4000

5 General Schedule rate from U.S. Office of Personnel Management pay tables, effective January 2022, assuming base pay rate with locality adjustment for locality pay area of Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA. See https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/22Tables/html/DCB_h.aspx

6 General Schedule rate from U.S. Office of Personnel Management pay tables, effective January 2022, assuming base pay rate with no locality adjustment. See https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/22Tables/html/GS_h.aspx

7 The number of samples has changed from 169,557 to 237,895 since the July 11, 2022 Federal Register notice. The average number of water quality samples collected each year is 237,895; 169,557 was the number of samples jurisdictions had projected to collect. As a result, total respondent labor and O&M costs changed; those changes have been captured throughout the document.

File Type	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
File Title	Information Collection Request for BEACH Act Grant Program (Renewal)
Author	Contreras Balbuena, Andrea
File Modified	0000-00-00
File Created	2023-08-02