Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments, 43792-43793 [2015-18057]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 141 (Thursday, July 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43792-43793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-18057]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 Geological Survey

[GX15CC009UKWG00]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of a new information collection, State Water Use 
Cooperative Funding Application

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SUMMARY: We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) 
described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 
1995, and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal 
agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC.

DATES: To ensure that your comments are considered, we must receive 
them on or before September 21, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this information collection to 
the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 807, Reston, VA 20192 (mail); (703) 648-
7197 (fax); or gs-info_collections@usgs.gov (email). Please reference 
`Information Collection 1028-NEW, `State Water Use Cooperative Funding 
Application' in all correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melinda Dalton, USGS, at (678) 924-
6637 or msdalton@usgs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The USGS is working with State Water Resource agencies to operate a 
Water Use Data and Research program (WUDR). Section 9508 of the SECURE 
Water Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer grants to 
State water resource agencies to assist in developing water use and 
availability datasets that are integrated with each appropriate dataset 
developed or maintained by the Secretary or grants that integrate any 
water use or water availability dataset of the State water resource 
agency into each appropriate dataset developed or maintained by the 
Secretary. Responsibility for administration of this State Water Use 
Grants program has been delegated to the U.S. Geological Survey. State 
Water Use Grants will be used to improve the collection and reporting 
of water use categories by State agencies, including the inclusion of 
categories that have been discontinued in the past due to limited 
resources. The total authorized funding for the State Water Use Grants 
program is $12,500,000 for a period of five years.
    In FY15 grant funds will be awarded non-competitively, with all 50 
states receiving awards ($26,000 each) to develop workplans that 
outline priorities for use of grant funds, with the goal of States 
reporting, to the USGS, withdrawal and ancillary information for each 
major category of water use that improve national water withdrawal and 
consumptive use estimates. The USGS has developed a draft baseline 
standard table for all water use categories and will require that 
States identify current data collection levels (tiers) for each 
category as part of workplan development. States will be required to 
use these standards to identify categories for improvement in data 
collection and/or research activities that improve data estimation 
techniques nationally. For States that already meet the baseline 
standards, goals are provided in Tier 2 and 3 for additional data that 
would benefit national estimates and provide information for water 
availability studies by water managers, academia, federal, and or local 
agencies. In order to receive awards as part of the competitive process 
beginning in FY16, States must submit a completed workplan.
    Beginning in FY16 grant funds will be announced and awarded as part 
of a competitive process that will be guided, annually, by a technical 
committee whose members will include representatives from the 
stakeholder community as well as USGS. State Grant funds will be 
coordinated with a single agency in each State and the USGS is working, 
through the USGS Regional Water Use Specialists, to identify which 
agencies will be the lead contact in each State. Collaboration and 
coordination with USGS personnel will be required as part of the Grants 
program. Data must be stored electronically and made available at the 
HUC-8 and county level in formats appropriate for existing USGS 
databases. Additionally, methods used for data collection (estimated 
values, coefficients, etc.) and a description of data quality assurance 
and control will be required.

II. Data

    OMB Control Number: 1028-NEW.
    Title: State Water Use Cooperative Funding Application.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Affected Public: State water-resource agencies who collect water 
use data.

[[Page 43793]]

    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory to be considered for funding.
    Frequency of Collection: Annually.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 52.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 52.
    Estimated Time per Response: 40 hours to prepare the proposal. This 
includes time to review the WUDR Guidance Document to understand the 
program design and requirements for data providers.
    Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 2080.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-Hour Cost'' Burden: 
None.
    Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) 
provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor and you are not 
required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number and current expiration date.

III. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting comments as to: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the agency to perform its 
duties, including whether the information is useful; (b) the accuracy 
of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) how to minimize the burden 
on the respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Please note that the comments submitted in response to this notice 
are a matter of public record. Before including your personal mailing 
address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable 
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire 
comment, including your personally identifiable information, may be 
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your 
comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from 
public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sonya Jones,
Program Coordinator, Water Availability and Use Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-18057 Filed 7-22-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4311-AM-P