Six-Year Review 4 of Drinking Water Standards (Information Collection Request)
During the Six-Year Review process, EPA reviews and assesses new data, information and technologies and identifies National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) which may be appropriate for revision. An important component of the information considered by EPA includes the occurrence of regulated contaminants and the associated exposure to the population. EPA used an Information Collection Request (ICR) to gather information about compliance monitoring from state agencies covering the years from 2012 through 2019. More information about the ICR process for Six-Year Review 4 is described below.
The results of the Six-Year Review 4 were announced in July 2024. The final and complete dataset that was used as a basis for the July 2024 announcement are available in the link below.
Read here for the final Six-Year Review 4 Data Set.
In August 2022, EPA published a preliminary release of data collected under the ICR to assist in the ongoing effort to inform potential revisions to the Microbial and Disinfection Byproducts (MDBP) rules. The data was used by EPA in support of conducting analyses with relevant data and information (including characterization of national baselines after implementation of MDBP rules) to further evaluate the eight NPDWRs identified under the third Six-Year Review for potential regulatory revisions.
Read here for more information on the August 2022 preliminary data release.
June 3, 2020 — EPA sent a data call letter to all primacy agencies requesting the voluntary submission of contaminant occurrence data and treatment technique information collected from 2012 to 2019 for all regulated contaminants. EPA is encouraging each primacy agency to submit their data to improve EPA's understanding of regulated contaminants in drinking water and help decide whether existing regulations need to be revised. The collection has been approved by OMB (Control Number 2040-0298).
October 31, 2019 —The Federal Register Notice announcing EPA’s submission of the ICR to OMB for review and approval, and an additional public comment period was published. The deadline for public comment was December 2, 2019. The notices and the ICR Supporting Statement associated with each notice can be found in docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0241.
October 5, 2018 —The Federal Register Notice announcing the proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) for Contaminant Occurrence Data in Support of the Fourth Six-Year Review was published. The first three Six-Year Reviews were supported by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved information collections. The notice proposes an information collection to support the fourth Six-Year Review. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for approval, EPA solicited public comments on specific aspects of the proposed, voluntary information collection. The deadline for public comment was December 4, 2018.