Environmental Protection Agency March 1, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is announcing a 45-day public comment period for the draft document titled Watershed Modeling to Assess the Sensitivity of Streamflow, Nutrient, and Sediment Loads to Climate Change and Urban Development in 20 U.S. Watersheds (EPA/600/R-12/058). EPA also is announcing that an EPA contractor for external scientific peer review will select an independent group of experts to conduct a letter peer review of the draft document. The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of Research and Development and is intended to characterize the sensitivity of streamflow, nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus), and sediment loading to a range of plausible mid-21st century climate change and urban development scenarios. The study also provides an improved understanding of methodological challenges associated with integrating existing tools and datasets to assess the potential effects of climate change and urban development on stream flow and water quality. EPA intends to forward the public comments that are submitted in accordance with this notice to the external peer reviewers for their consideration during the letter review. When finalizing the draft document, EPA intends to consider any public comments received in accordance with this notice. EPA is releasing this draft assessment for the purposes of public comment and peer review. This draft assessment is not final as described in EPA's information quality guidelines and it does not represent and should not be construed to represent Agency policy or views. The draft document is available via the Internet on the NCEA home page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at www.epa.gov/ncea.