Science Advisory Board; Notification of Public Advisory Committee Meetings

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32228-32229]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15272]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6361-2]


Science Advisory Board; Notification of Public Advisory Committee 
Meetings

    Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, 
notice is hereby given that the Drinking Water Intake Subcommittee of 
the Science Advisory Board's (SAB) Executive Committee will meet on the 
dates and times described below. All times noted are Eastern Time. All 
meetings are open to the public, however, seating is limited and 
available on a first come basis. Documents that are the subject of SAB 
reviews are normally available from the originating U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) office and are not available from the SAB 
Office. Public drafts of SAB reports are available to the Agency and 
the public from the SAB office. Details on availability are noted 
below.
    The Subcommittee will hold two public meetings to review the 
Agency's report entitled Estimated Per Capita Water Consumption in the 
United States. The first meeting will be conducted as a public 
teleconference on Thursday, July 8, 1999, between the hours of 12:00 
noon and 2:00 p.m., Eastern Time. The purpose of the first meeting will 
be to introduce the topic to the Subcommittee, to conduct some 
preliminary discussions on the report, and to plan for the second 
meeting which will be held on July 19-20, 1999. The July 8 meeting will 
be coordinated through a conference call connection in Room 3709 of the 
Waterside Mall, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20460. The public is welcome to attend the meeting 
physically or through a telephonic link. For those intending to 
participate telephonically, the briefing slides used by EPA in its 
introductory remarks to the Subcommittee can be viewed at the SAB 
Website (http://www.epa.gov/sab/) by July 6, 1999. The Website link to 
the slides will be contained within the ``What's New'' sidebar and will 
be titled ``Drinking Water Intake.'' Additional instructions about how 
to participate in the conference call can be obtained by calling Ms. 
Dorothy Clark at (202) 260-6555, and via e-mail at: 
<clark.dorothy@epa.gov> by July 2, 1999.
    The second meeting, a two-day face-to-face meeting to discuss the 
report in detail and to formulate SAB advice, will be held in the 
Capital Hill Room of the Embassy Suites Hotel Crystal City, 1300 
Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202, telephone (703) 979-9799, 
beginning at 8:30 am Monday, July 19, 1999 and ending not later than 
5:00 pm Tuesday, July 20, 1999.

Background--Water Consumption Estimates for the United States

    EPA has prepared a report providing estimates of per capita water 
intake in the U.S. based on the USDA 1994-96 Continuing Survey of Food 
Intake for Individuals (CSFII). Estimates include amounts of direct and 
indirect water consumption. Direct water consumption is plain water 
consumed directly as a beverage. Indirect water is water added to foods 
and beverages during final preparation at home, in schools, or 
restaurants. In addition, empirical distributions of estimated water 
consumption were generated by water source and by the respondent 
demographic and physical characteristics. Water sources include: (1) 
The community water supply, (2) bottled water, (3) other sources 
including a household well or rain cistern, or a household or public 
spring. Physical and demographic characteristics include: age, gender, 
race, socioeconomic status, geographic region. Estimates were also 
generated separately for pregnant and lactating women. The 
distributions of estimated water intake include point estimates of the 
mean and the following percentiles: 1st, 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 
90th, 95th, and 99th. In addition, confidence intervals for the mean 
and bootstrap intervals for the upper percentiles are provided for the 
larger subpopulations.

[[Page 32229]]

Charge to the Science Advisory Board

    The Agency charge to the SAB includes the following questions:
    1. The distributions of estimated water intake were generated using 
standard statistical methodology for surveys with complex designs such 
as the 1994-96 CSFII. Is the statistical methodology used to generate 
the estimates appropriate?
    2. EPA limited the calculation of confidence intervals about the 
mean and boot strap intervals for percentiles to the distributions for 
the larger subpopulations. The complex sample design makes the 
calculation and interpretation of results for smaller subpopulations 
difficult if not impossible to calculate and interpret. Is this an 
appropriate decision?
    3. The CSFII survey is based on short-term survey data. Upper 
percentile estimates may differ for short-term and long-term data 
because short-term survey data tends to be inherently more variable. Is 
it appropriate to report upper percentile estimates such as the 99th 
percentile?
    4. Are the data conventions used to identify indirect water 
appropriate?
    5. Do the data support estimates of subpopulation distributions?
    6. EPA has provided distributions of estimated water intake for 
numerous subpopulations. Should any additional subpopulations be added? 
Should any be excluded? Specify such subpopulations.
    7. USDA has identified two types of indirect water in foods. They 
are:
    a. The amount of water in food as consumed.
    b. The amount of water used to prepare food.
    The EPA water intake report provides estimates of the amount of 
indirect water in food as consumed. If resources permit, we could 
expand our report as a future addendum to include estimates of the 
amount of indirect water used to prepare food. Would this be desirable?
    8. Additional water intake estimates associated with types of food 
may be useful for specific risk-exposure analyses, e.g., cold beverage 
intake. Such analyses are feasible using the CSFII data. EPA could 
expand the report as a future addendum if resources permit. Are any 
such targeted analyses of significant interest at this time?
    9. Intrinsic water is the water contained in foods and beverages at 
the time of market purchase. Intrinsic water includes commercial water 
(added to food products by food manufacturers) and biological water 
(found naturally in foods). Intrinsic water is not included in EPA's 
current analysis. If resources permit, EPA could expand the report as a 
future addendum to include estimates of intrinsic water. Would this be 
desirable?
    10. What are the scientific limitations to the use of the water 
consumption estimates provided in this report?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Single copies of the background report for the 
review can be obtained by contacting either Dr. Julie Du, US EPA, 
Office of Science and Technolgy, Mail Stop 4304, 401 M Street, SW, 
Washington, DC, 20460; [telephone: (202) 260-7583] or Ms. Helen Jacobs, 
US EPA, Office of Science and Technolgy, Mail Stop 4303, 401 M Street, 
SW, Washington, DC, 20460; [telephone: (202) 260-5412]. Additional 
information for these meetings, or the agendas for the meetings, can be 
obtained by contacting Mr. Thomas O. Miller, Designated Federal Officer 
(DFO) for the Drinking Water Intake Subcommittee, Science Advisory 
Board (1400), U.S. EPA, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460; by 
telephone at (202) 260-5886; by fax at (202) 260-7118 or via e-Mail at: 
<miller.tom@epa.gov>, or by contacting Ms. Dorothy Clark at (202) 260-
6555, by fax at (202) 260-7118, and by e-Mail at: 
<clark.dorothy@epa.gov>. Anyone wishing to make an oral presentation to 
the Subcommittee must contact Mr. Miller, in writing (by letter, fax, 
or E-mail) no later than 12 noon, Thursday, July 1, 1999, in order to 
be included on the Agenda for the July 8 teleconference meeting and no 
later than 12 noon, Monday, July 12, 1999 for the July 19-20 meeting. 
The request should identify the name of the individual who will make 
the presentation and an outline of the issues to be addressed. At least 
35 copies of any written comments to the Committee are to be given to 
Mr. Miller no later than the time of the presentation for distribution 
to the Subcommittee and the interested public.

Providing Oral or Written Comments at SAB Meetings

    The Science Advisory Board expects that public statements presented 
at its meetings will not be repetitive of previously submitted oral or 
written statements. In general, each individual or group making an oral 
presentation will be limited to a total time of ten minutes. For 
teleconference meetings, opportunities for oral comment will usually be 
limited to no more than three minutes per speaker and no more than 
fifteen minutes total. Written comments (at least 35 copies) received 
in the SAB Staff Office sufficiently prior to a meeting date (usually 
one week before the meeting), may be mailed to the relevant SAB 
committee or subcommittee; comments received too close to the meeting 
date will normally be provided to the committee at its meeting, or 
mailed soon after receipt by the Agency. Written comments may be 
provided to the relevant committee or subcommittee up until the time of 
the meeting.
    Additional information concerning the Science Advisory Board, its 
structure, function, and composition, may be found on the SAB Website 
(http://www.epa.gov/sab) and in The Annual Report of the Staff Director 
which is available from the SAB Publications Staff at (202) 260-4126 or 
via fax at (202) 260-1889.
    Individuals requiring special accommodation at SAB meetings, 
including wheelchair access, should contact Mr. Miller at least five 
business days prior to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can 
be made.

    Dated: June 7, 1999.
Donald G. Barnes,
Staff Director, Science Advisory Board.
[FR Doc. 99-15272 Filed 6-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P