Citation:

Impact/Purpose:

The Office of Research and Development (ORD) has initiated a multi-year planning effort to plan the direction of our research program in selected topic areas over five or more years. This approach promotes ORD's focus on the highest priority issues and provides coordination for achieving our long-term research goals. The focus of this effort is the development of Multi-Year Plans (MYPs).

The purpose of the MYPs is to provide a framework that integrates research across ORD's laboratories and centers and Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goals in support of the Agency's mission to protect human health and the environment. The MYPs identify long-term goals, and present annual performance goals (APGs) and associated annual performance measures (APMs) for a planning window of approximately 5-10 years. By helping to identify the impact of potential annual planning decisions, MYPs aid in the evaluation of research options. MYPs also foster the integration of strategic risk-based environmental protection and anticipation of future environmental issues by communicating our research approach and timing for responding to environmental issues. MYPs are intended to be living documents and are updated as needed to reflect the current state of the science, resource availability, and Agency priorities.

MYPs include two major components: (1) a narrative description of the plan, and (2) a matrix of goals and measures. The narrative provides an introduction and background to the topic of the plan, describes the long-term goals, provides the logic/thinking used to array performance goals to achieve long-term goals, and describes the integration between goals and organizations. The matrix is used to indicate annual goals and measures needed to meet the long-term goals identified in the plan. These goals and measures are arrayed across time (i.e., fiscal years) and laboratories/centers and are based on total annual resource levels for the MYP topic area that will not exceed the resource level proposed in the most recent President's Budget.

Description:

The Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 direct EPA to conduct research to strengthen the scientific foundation for standards that limit public exposure to drinking water contaminants. The Amendments contain specific requirements for research on waterborne pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium and Norwalk virus; disinfection byproducts; arsenic; and other harmful substances in drinking water. EPA is also directed to conduct studies to identify and characterize population groups, such as children, that may be at greater risk from exposure to contaminants in drinking water than is the general population. EPA's multi-year plan for drinking water research establishes three long-term goals. Within the scope of this MYP, EPA will: 1. By 2010, develop scientifically sound data and approaches to assess and manage risks to human health posed by exposure to specific regulated waterborne pathogens and chemicals, including those addressed by the Arsenic, M/DBP Rules and Six-Year Review Rules. 2. By 2010, develop new data, innovative tools and improved technologies to support decision-making by the Office of Water on the Contaminant Candidate List and other regulatory issues, and implementation of rules by States, local authorities and water utilities. 3. By 2009, provide data, tools and technologies to support management decisions by the Office of Water, State, local authorities and utilities to protect source water and the quality of water in the distribution system.

URLs/Downloads:

Record Details: