Global
Change Effects on Water Treatment
For the Global Change Research Program within the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development, ICF International analyzed
potential factors contributing to the vulnerability of public water supplies
due to climate change. ICF International analyzed 20 years of Maximum Contaminant
Level (MCL) violation data from the Safe Drinking Water Information System
database to characterize the relationship between MCL violations and temperature
and precipitation in 11 states. Independent effects of seasonality and changes
in state regulatory requirements were included in the analysis, which found
clear impacts of temperature on the patterns of MCL violations in Southern
states, and clear differences in susceptibility in systems using different
treatment technologies.
Regulatory and Economic Analysis for Radon in
Drinking Water
ICF International supported EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
in analyzing the public health and economic outcomes of alternative approaches
for controlling radon in drinking water. ICF International developed a risk-benefit
model that calculated risk reduction benefits of different regulatory options,
using both "natural units" (cases of cancer) and monetary surrogates
to estimate regulatory benefits. For the supporting economic analysis, ICF International used detailed water system inventory data to support Monte Carlo
national estimates of compliance costs and health benefits. The Regulatory
Impact Analysis/Economic Analysis, drafted by ICF International, has withstood
detailed peer review and extensive stakeholder comments.
Framework for the Ecological Valuation of Economic
Benefits
For the EPA’s Social Sciences Discussion Group, ICF International assisted
in developing a framework to improve the use of ecological information in economic
assessments and valuations. The framework describes ecological assessment endpoints
that can be used to infer changes for which economic valuation techniques exist.
These techniques range from traditional approaches (such as travel cost analysis)
to newer ones (such as conjoint analysis and random utility model applications).
The framework report emphasizes communication and coordination between ecologists
and economists during problem formulation.
Municipal Water Pollution Prevention
ICF International assisted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)
Office of Wastewater Enforcement and Compliance (OWEC) in an initiative to develop
a national municipal water pollution prevention program designed to promote more
effective management of the nation's publicly owned treatment works and wastewater
pretreatment programs to reduce surface water pollution. Our staff helped develop
the broad outlines of the program and, to introduce the program and solicit input
regarding its objectives, supported a series of workshops across the country
for EPA regional and state offices. ICF International also prepared detailed summaries
of the workshop results, outreach brochures, bibliographies, and case-study compendia;
and assisted OWEC in developing the final framework and guidance for the new
program. |
Technical and Regulatory Support for the Development of Criteria for Water
Media
ICF International provides technical and regulatory support services to EPA’s
Office of Water to develop human health criteria, health advisories, maximum
contaminant level goals, and pollutant limits. This support includes activities
such as conducting hazard and risk assessments; performing statistical analyses;
evaluating pollutants selected for review by EPA; assessing the potential impact
of criteria on sensitive populations (e.g., children and the elderly); preparing
criteria documents, health advisories, technical guidance and technical support
documents for regulatory requirements, and the index of references for proposed
and final regulations; summarizing comments on proposed regulations; and arranging
and conducting workshops. ICF International has prepared numerous toxicological
support documents for EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS),
as well as scientific documents to support regulatory determinations. These
technical reports also address specific water contaminants (Health Effects
Summary Documents) and provide information to the public (Health Advisories)
involving both qualitative (e.g., literature review and synthesis) and quantitative
(e.g., dose-response modeling) analysis.
Evaluation of Land and Water Quality
For the EPA Office of Policy, ICF International
provided support across a broad range of areas,
including developing methods for analyzing
benefits and costs of EPA actions and nonregulatory
strategies, analyzing economic efficiency and
effectiveness, providing technical support (including risk assessment) for policy
development (including "nonquantifiable" impacts and benefits in
decision-making), and analyzing the science and economics of sustainability.
Our staff developed a resource book to assist ecological resource managers in
identifying and evaluating the ecological consequences of different watershed
management options. The book focuses on ecological benefits not actively used
by humans (e.g., habitat for animals or maintenance of biodiversity). Such benefits
are often neglected in the process of conducting economic benefit assessments.
ICF International also investigated and characterized regional efforts to identify
high-priority terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Fisheries Statistics
and Economics Division
ICF International helped the Fisheries Statistics and Economics
Division develop options for implementing a national fisheries information
and vessel registration system. Our staff facilitated meetings of the system’s
core design team, collected and analyzed system data from various state-based
fishery management agencies, and assisted in the production of report documents
for the NMFS Report to Congress on system implementation. As contemplated in
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Atlantic
component of this national system will be comprised of the information system
and user interface developed by ICF International for the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative
Statistics Program (ACCSP), a consortium of 22 federal, state, and regional
agencies responsible for managing the nation’s Atlantic coastal fisheries.
For ACCSP, we developed a data warehouse that combines fishery data collected
by each federal and state agency and permits access to the data through an
easy-to-use, Web-based analytical interface, allowing fishery professionals
from Maine to Florida to analyze the same fishery data using their Web browsers.
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