Safe Drinking Water Act Sole Source Aquifer Program; Designation of Bainbridge Island, Washington as a Sole Source Aquifer, 19261-19262 [2013-07409]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 61 / Friday, March 29, 2013 / Notices RFS industry will submitt petitions for renewable fuel pathways to seek approval. The number in the respondent universe will decreased in all categories for the parties thus lessoning the reporting burden for its members. John Moses, Director, Collection Strategies Division. [FR Doc. 2013–07386 Filed 3–28–13; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [ER–FRL–9008–4] Environmental Impacts Statements; Notice of Availability Responsible Agency: Office of Federal Activities, General Information (202) 564–7146 or https://www.epa.gov/ compliance/nepa/. Weekly Receipt of Environmental Impact Statements Filed 03/18/2013 Through 03/22/2013 Pursuant to 40 CFR 1506.9. mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Notice Section 309(a) of the Clean Air Act requires that EPA make public its comments on EISs issued by other Federal agencies. EPA’s comment letters on EISs are available at: https:// www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/ eisdata.html EIS No. 20130072, Final EIS, FHWA, AR, River Valley Intermodal Facilities, Review Period Ends: 05/13/ 2013, Contact: Randal Looney 501– 324–6430. EIS No. 20130073, Draft Supplement, NRC, WY Ross In-Situ Leach Recovery (ISR) Project, Supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities, Comment Period Ends: 05/13/2013, Contact: Johari Moore 301–415–7694. EIS No. 20130074, Draft Supplement, FHWA, USACE, WV, King Coal Highway Delbarton to Belo Project and Buffalo Mountain Surface Mine Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit Application, Comment Period Ends: 05/22/2013, Contact: Jason Workman (FHWA) 304–347–5928, Mark Taylor (USACE) 304–399–5610, Ben Hark (WVDOT) 304–558–2885. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Department of the Army’s Corps of Engineers and the West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Division of Highways are Joint-Lead Agencies for this project. VerDate Mar<15>2010 17:34 Mar 28, 2013 Jkt 229001 EIS No. 20130075, Draft Supplement, NMFS, AK, Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean, Comment Period Ends: 05/28/2013, Contact: Candace Nachman 301–427– 8401. EIS No. 20130076, Draft EIS, USFS, AZ, Four-Forest Restoration Initiative Coconino and Kaibab National Forests, Comment Period Ends: 05/29/ 2013, Contact: Henry Provencio (928) 226–4684. EIS No. 20130077, Draft EIS, NPS, TX, Lake Meredith National Recreation Area and Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument Draft General Management Plan, Comment Period Ends: 05/28/2013, Contact: Erin Flanagan 303–969–2327. EIS No. 20130078, Final EIS, USFS, MT, Jack Rabbit to Big Sky Meadow Village 161 kV Transmission Line Upgrade, Review Period Ends: 04/29/ 2013, Contact: Amy Waring 406–255– 1451. EIS No. 20130079, Draft EIS, BLM, MT, Billings and Pompeys Pillar National Monument Resource Management Plan, Comment Period Ends: 06/27/ 2013, Contact: Carolyn Sherve-Bybee 406–896–5234. Dated: March 26, 2013. Aimee S. Hessert, Deputy Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office of Federal Activities. [FR Doc. 2013–07373 Filed 3–28–13; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Safe Drinking Water Act Sole Source Aquifer Program; Designation of Bainbridge Island, Washington as a Sole Source Aquifer Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Final determination. AGENCY: SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that pursuant to Section 1424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System located in Kitsap County, Washington is the sole or principle source of drinking water for the citizens of Bainbridge Island and that this aquifer system, if contaminated would create a significant hazard to public health. As a result of this action, all Federal financially assisted projects constructed on Bainbridge Island will be subject to EPA review to ensure that these projects are designed and constructed so they do not PO 00000 Frm 00083 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 19261 create a significant hazard to public health. DATES: This determination shall be effective on March 29, 2013. ADDRESSES: All documents relating to this determination are available for inspection by the public during normal business hours at the U.S. EPA Library, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101 between the hours of 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. and 1:00–4:00 p.m. and at the Bainbridge Island library at 1270 Madison Avenue North, Bainbridge Island. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Eastman, EPA Region 10, Drinking Water Unit, by mail at the Seattle address given above, by telephone at (206) 553–6249, or by email at Eastman.susan@epa.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Background Section 1424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h3(e), Public Law 93–523 of December 16, 1974) states: If the Administrator determines, on his own initiative or upon petition, that an area has an aquifer which is the sole or principal drinking water source for the area and which, if contaminated, could create a significant hazard to public health, he shall publish a notice of the determination in the Federal Register. After the publication of any such notice, no commitment for Federal financial assistance (through a grant, contract, loan guarantee, or otherwise) may be entered into for any project which the Administrator determines may contaminate such aquifer through a recharge zone so as to create a significant hazard to public health, but a commitment for Federal financial assistance may, if authorized under another provision of law, be entered into to plan or design the project to assure that it will not so contaminate the aquifer. On August 5, 2009, EPA received a petition from two citizens of Bainbridge Island requesting designation of the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System as a Sole Source Aquifer (SSA). On April 20, 2012, EPA published a notice in the Bainbridge Islander newspaper and mailed fact sheets to island residents which served to announce the public comment period. The public was permitted to submit comments and information on the petition from April 20 through June 4, 2012. Public comments received by EPA were generally in support of the designation. II. Basis for Determination EPA defines a sole or principle source aquifer as an aquifer or aquifer system which supplies at least 50 percent of the drinking water consumed in the area overlying the aquifer, and for which E:\FR\FM\29MRN1.SGM 29MRN1 19262 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 61 / Friday, March 29, 2013 / Notices mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES there is no alternative source or combination of alternative drinking water sources which could physically, legally and economically supply those dependent upon the aquifer (U.S. EPA, 1987, Sole Source Aquifer Designation Decision Process, Petition Review Guidance). Among the factors considered by the Regional Administrator in connection with the designation of an area under Section 1424(e) are: (1) Whether the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System is the area’s sole or principal source of drinking water and (2) whether contamination of the aquifer system would create a significant hazard to public health. On the basis of technical information available to the EPA, the Regional Administrator has made the following findings in favor of designating the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System a SSA: 1. The Bainbridge Island Aquifer System currently serves more than 23,000 residents of Bainbridge Island. One hundred percent of the current population obtains their drinking water from the petitioned aquifer system either from individual wells or from one of the more than 150 water systems on the island. 2. There is no existing alternative drinking water source or combination of sources which supply drinking water to the designated area, nor is there any available cost effective future source capable of supplying the drinking water demands for the population served by the aquifer service area. No potential surface water bodies exist to provide a source of drinking water, piping water from the Kitsap Peninsula across Agate Pass Bridge to Bainbridge Island is costprohibitive and installation of a desalination plant is too costly. 3. Since groundwater contamination can be difficult or sometimes impossible to reverse and since the Bainbridge community relies on the Bainbridge Aquifer System for drinking water purposes, contamination of the aquifer system would pose a significant public health hazard. The legal and technical basis for the proposal was outlined in an EPA publication titled: ‘‘Support Document for Sole Source Aquifer Designation of the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System’’. III. Description of the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System The petitioned area includes all of Bainbridge Island. The island is a mix of developed land and forests. Six principal aquifers make up the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System. On island precipitation recharges the aquifers and is the only source of VerDate Mar<15>2010 17:34 Mar 28, 2013 Jkt 229001 recharge for lakes, ponds, and streams. The island has a total of 53 miles of seawater shoreline and the aquifer area is bounded on all sides by Puget Sound. Interior plateaus reach maximum elevations of 300 to 400 feet above mean sea level. The island can be divided into 12 drainage basins. Large volumes of unconsolidated glacial and interglacial materials from at least six advances and retreats of Pleistocene continental glaciers over the last 300,000 years has shaped the present-day landscape and underlying hydrostratigraphy of the island and are host to the aquifers on Bainbridge Island. The aquifer system is vulnerable to contamination from potential seawater intrusion, accidental spills, petroleum projects, small hazardous waste generators, household hazardous waste disposal, leachate from the closed island landfill, leachate from the Wyckoff Superfund site in Eagle Harbor, failing septic systems, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides and improperly abandoned wells. Bainbridge Island’s hydrogeologic characteristics are similar to the following Puget Sound islands whose aquifers have already been designated as SSA’s by EPA: Camano, Whidbey, Marrowstone, Guemes and VashonMaury. Please see the Support Document for a more detailed hydrogeologic description. IV. Information Utilized in Determination The information utilized in this determination include the petition; U.S. Geological Survey, 2011, Conceptual Model and Numerical Simulation of the Groundwater-Flow system of Bainbridge Island, Washington, Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5021, 96 pages; Washington Department of Ecology, 2011a, Confirmed and Suspected Contaminated Sites List, Bainbridge Island City Strawberry Plant Site, August 16; EPA guidance documents and the City of Bainbridge Water Resource Study (2000). For a complete list of references used by the petitioner see the Support Document. V. Project Review Publication of this determination requires that EPA review proposed projects with Federal financial assistance in order to ensure that such projects do not have the potential to contaminate the Bainbridge Island SSA so as to create a significant hazard to public health. Proposed projects that are funded entirely by state, local, or private concerns are not subject to SSA review by EPA. EPA does not review all possible Federal financially-assisted projects but tries to focus on those PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 projects which pose the greatest risk to public health. Memorandums of Understanding between EPA and various Federal funding agencies help identify, coordinate and evaluate projects. VI. Summary Today’s action affects the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System located on Bainbridge Island, Kitsap County, Washington. Projects with federal financial assistance proposed within the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System will be reviewed to ensure that their activities will not endanger public health through contamination of the aquifer. A public notice regarding the SSA designation request was published in the Bainbridge Islander newspaper on April 20, 2012. Seven comments were received all in general support of the designation of the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System. Authority: Section 1424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h3(e), Pub. L. 93–523 of December 16, 1974 Dated: March 21, 2013. Rick Albright, Acting Regional Administrator. [FR Doc. 2013–07409 Filed 3–28–13; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY [No. 2013–N–04] Notice of Annual Adjustment of the Cap on Average Total Assets That Defines Community Financial Institutions Federal Housing Finance Agency. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has adjusted the cap on average total assets that defines a ‘‘Community Financial Institution’’ based on the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI–U) as published by the Department of Labor (DOL). These changes took effect on January 1, 2013. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia L. Sweeney, Division of Federal Home Loan Bank Regulation, (202) 649– 3311, Pat.Sweeney@fhfa.gov, or Eric M. Raudenbush, Assistant General Counsel, (202) 649–6421, Eric.Raudenbush@fhfa.gov, (not toll-free numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, Constitution Center, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20024. E:\FR\FM\29MRN1.SGM 29MRN1

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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 61 (Friday, March 29, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19261-19262]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07409]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY


Safe Drinking Water Act Sole Source Aquifer Program; Designation 
of Bainbridge Island, Washington as a Sole Source Aquifer

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final determination.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that pursuant to Section 1424(e) of the 
Safe Drinking Water Act, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that the Bainbridge Island 
Aquifer System located in Kitsap County, Washington is the sole or 
principle source of drinking water for the citizens of Bainbridge 
Island and that this aquifer system, if contaminated would create a 
significant hazard to public health. As a result of this action, all 
Federal financially assisted projects constructed on Bainbridge Island 
will be subject to EPA review to ensure that these projects are 
designed and constructed so they do not create a significant hazard to 
public health.

DATES: This determination shall be effective on March 29, 2013.

ADDRESSES: All documents relating to this determination are available 
for inspection by the public during normal business hours at the U.S. 
EPA Library, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101 
between the hours of 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:00-4:00 p.m. and at the 
Bainbridge Island library at 1270 Madison Avenue North, Bainbridge 
Island.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Eastman, EPA Region 10, Drinking 
Water Unit, by mail at the Seattle address given above, by telephone at 
(206) 553-6249, or by email at Eastman.susan@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Section 1424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h3(e), 
Public Law 93-523 of December 16, 1974) states:

    If the Administrator determines, on his own initiative or upon 
petition, that an area has an aquifer which is the sole or principal 
drinking water source for the area and which, if contaminated, could 
create a significant hazard to public health, he shall publish a 
notice of the determination in the Federal Register. After the 
publication of any such notice, no commitment for Federal financial 
assistance (through a grant, contract, loan guarantee, or otherwise) 
may be entered into for any project which the Administrator 
determines may contaminate such aquifer through a recharge zone so 
as to create a significant hazard to public health, but a commitment 
for Federal financial assistance may, if authorized under another 
provision of law, be entered into to plan or design the project to 
assure that it will not so contaminate the aquifer.

    On August 5, 2009, EPA received a petition from two citizens of 
Bainbridge Island requesting designation of the Bainbridge Island 
Aquifer System as a Sole Source Aquifer (SSA). On April 20, 2012, EPA 
published a notice in the Bainbridge Islander newspaper and mailed fact 
sheets to island residents which served to announce the public comment 
period. The public was permitted to submit comments and information on 
the petition from April 20 through June 4, 2012. Public comments 
received by EPA were generally in support of the designation.

II. Basis for Determination

    EPA defines a sole or principle source aquifer as an aquifer or 
aquifer system which supplies at least 50 percent of the drinking water 
consumed in the area overlying the aquifer, and for which

[[Page 19262]]

there is no alternative source or combination of alternative drinking 
water sources which could physically, legally and economically supply 
those dependent upon the aquifer (U.S. EPA, 1987, Sole Source Aquifer 
Designation Decision Process, Petition Review Guidance).
    Among the factors considered by the Regional Administrator in 
connection with the designation of an area under Section 1424(e) are: 
(1) Whether the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System is the area's sole or 
principal source of drinking water and (2) whether contamination of the 
aquifer system would create a significant hazard to public health. On 
the basis of technical information available to the EPA, the Regional 
Administrator has made the following findings in favor of designating 
the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System a SSA:
    1. The Bainbridge Island Aquifer System currently serves more than 
23,000 residents of Bainbridge Island. One hundred percent of the 
current population obtains their drinking water from the petitioned 
aquifer system either from individual wells or from one of the more 
than 150 water systems on the island.
    2. There is no existing alternative drinking water source or 
combination of sources which supply drinking water to the designated 
area, nor is there any available cost effective future source capable 
of supplying the drinking water demands for the population served by 
the aquifer service area. No potential surface water bodies exist to 
provide a source of drinking water, piping water from the Kitsap 
Peninsula across Agate Pass Bridge to Bainbridge Island is cost-
prohibitive and installation of a desalination plant is too costly.
    3. Since groundwater contamination can be difficult or sometimes 
impossible to reverse and since the Bainbridge community relies on the 
Bainbridge Aquifer System for drinking water purposes, contamination of 
the aquifer system would pose a significant public health hazard.
    The legal and technical basis for the proposal was outlined in an 
EPA publication titled: ``Support Document for Sole Source Aquifer 
Designation of the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System''.

III. Description of the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System

    The petitioned area includes all of Bainbridge Island. The island 
is a mix of developed land and forests. Six principal aquifers make up 
the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System. On island precipitation recharges 
the aquifers and is the only source of recharge for lakes, ponds, and 
streams. The island has a total of 53 miles of seawater shoreline and 
the aquifer area is bounded on all sides by Puget Sound. Interior 
plateaus reach maximum elevations of 300 to 400 feet above mean sea 
level. The island can be divided into 12 drainage basins. Large volumes 
of unconsolidated glacial and interglacial materials from at least six 
advances and retreats of Pleistocene continental glaciers over the last 
300,000 years has shaped the present-day landscape and underlying 
hydrostratigraphy of the island and are host to the aquifers on 
Bainbridge Island. The aquifer system is vulnerable to contamination 
from potential seawater intrusion, accidental spills, petroleum 
projects, small hazardous waste generators, household hazardous waste 
disposal, leachate from the closed island landfill, leachate from the 
Wyckoff Superfund site in Eagle Harbor, failing septic systems, 
fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides and improperly abandoned wells. 
Bainbridge Island's hydrogeologic characteristics are similar to the 
following Puget Sound islands whose aquifers have already been 
designated as SSA's by EPA: Camano, Whidbey, Marrowstone, Guemes and 
Vashon-Maury. Please see the Support Document for a more detailed 
hydrogeologic description.

IV. Information Utilized in Determination

    The information utilized in this determination include the 
petition; U.S. Geological Survey, 2011, Conceptual Model and Numerical 
Simulation of the Groundwater-Flow system of Bainbridge Island, 
Washington, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5021, 96 pages; 
Washington Department of Ecology, 2011a, Confirmed and Suspected 
Contaminated Sites List, Bainbridge Island City Strawberry Plant Site, 
August 16; EPA guidance documents and the City of Bainbridge Water 
Resource Study (2000). For a complete list of references used by the 
petitioner see the Support Document.

V. Project Review

    Publication of this determination requires that EPA review proposed 
projects with Federal financial assistance in order to ensure that such 
projects do not have the potential to contaminate the Bainbridge Island 
SSA so as to create a significant hazard to public health. Proposed 
projects that are funded entirely by state, local, or private concerns 
are not subject to SSA review by EPA. EPA does not review all possible 
Federal financially-assisted projects but tries to focus on those 
projects which pose the greatest risk to public health. Memorandums of 
Understanding between EPA and various Federal funding agencies help 
identify, coordinate and evaluate projects.

VI. Summary

    Today's action affects the Bainbridge Island Aquifer System located 
on Bainbridge Island, Kitsap County, Washington. Projects with federal 
financial assistance proposed within the Bainbridge Island Aquifer 
System will be reviewed to ensure that their activities will not 
endanger public health through contamination of the aquifer. A public 
notice regarding the SSA designation request was published in the 
Bainbridge Islander newspaper on April 20, 2012. Seven comments were 
received all in general support of the designation of the Bainbridge 
Island Aquifer System.

    Authority:  Section 1424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 
U.S.C. 300h3(e), Pub. L. 93-523 of December 16, 1974

    Dated: March 21, 2013.
Rick Albright,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2013-07409 Filed 3-28-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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