About the Data

1. The occurrence of a monitoring event, such as an inspection/evaluation or a self-report;
2. The determination of a violation (non-compliance with environmental regulation);
3. The occurrence of a government enforcement action to address violations; and
4. Penalties associated with enforcement actions. 

The information presented on the ECHO web site primarily relates to facilities regulated as:

• Clean Air Act (CAA) stationary sources
• Clean Water Act (CWA) permitted dischargers [under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)]
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste sites
• Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) public water systems.

ECHO reflects EPA, state, local and tribal environmental agency compliance and enforcement records that have been entered into EPA's national databases under the statutes listed above, along with additional EPA enforcement data and other contextual information (detailed below).

EPA National Databases
ECHO provides access to data from:

• Air Facility System (AFS) - CAA
• Permit Compliance System (PCS) - CWA NPDES
• Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) - EPA data for inspections and enforcement actions regarding statutes listed above, plus the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act; Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act; Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act; and Toxic Substances Control Act
• Integrated Compliance Information System for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (ICIS-NPDES) - CWA NPDES
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information System (RCRAInfo) - RCRA
• Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) - SDWA

Each database is copied monthly into the Integrated Data for Enforcement Analysis (IDEA) system and made available via ECHO, allowing Internet access to integrated data. Updated ECHO data typically are available at the end of each month.

ECHO provides access to summary data, as well as detailed records for regulated facilities. Detailed records for each facility in ECHO include compliance and enforcement data along with contextual information, such as:

• Toxics Release Inventory pollutant releases
• Links to CAA National Emissions Inventory data
• Whether the facility is regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act
• Demographics surrounding the facility (from U.S. Census data).

Time Period of Data
The time period of data displayed in the different ECHO interfaces and reports varies. The Detailed Facility Report provides the past five years of inspection and enforcement data from the date that the information was extracted from the national databases listed above. EPA formal enforcement action data from ICIS are available from 2002.

The past three years of facility compliance data is presented on the Detailed Facility Report in three-month sections of data (quarters of the federal fiscal year). For compliance data that comes to EPA in quarters (ICIS-NPDES, PCS, SDWIS), the last twelve complete quarters are displayed. Other systems collect daily or monthly compliance data, in which case ECHO displays the last twelve complete quarters plus anything more recent than the last full quarter.

Downloadable datasets with more years of data are offered for advanced data users.

Please note that "real-time" data are not presented on this site. Although the data are updated every month, the lag time for data to become available on ECHO varies depending on the data system, activity, and negotiated reporting cycle. For example, an inherent lag time exists between the date an inspection is performed, the entry of the inspection into the state database, the uploading of data from the state to EPA, and the posting of data on the site. In some situations, data will enter the system quickly, in other circumstances the lag time may be 2-3 months.

Data in the national databases generally is more complete for larger facilities. EPA requires more information to be reported to its national databases on larger or "major" facilities than for smaller facilities. Data entry regarding smaller facilities is required in some instances, but not in others, and some non-required data are entered voluntarily by states. In AFS, the larger Clean Air Act facilities are designated as active, "federally-reportable." In PCS and ICIS-NPDES, the larger Clean Water Act facilities are active, "major" permittees. In RCRAInfo, these facilities are Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities and Large Quantity Generators.

ECHO presents data as reported to the EPA databases - information on smaller facilities that is reported to the national databases is displayed on ECHO. Understanding the mix of required and non-required data helps users interpret whether the ECHO information is complete, or whether state environmental agencies or state databases should be consulted in order to see a complete picture of enforcement and compliance for regulated facilities.

• Data Entry Requirements - Users should reference this table regarding the information required to be reported to the national databases. To use the table, examine a Detailed Facility Report to determine the type of facility of interest, and then refer to the table to determine whether data for the facility is required to be reported. For example, the table indicates that states are not required to report violations occurring at CWA non-major facilities, thus data regarding violations at non-major facilities may not be available via ECHO.
• Guide to Regulated Facilities
• Links to More State Data

Additional Information Regarding CWA Data
Data often are not complete for non-major facilities. For example, because it is not required, not all states use EPA's databases (PCS and ICIS-NPDES) to enter and track CWA NPDES violations at non-major facilities. Some states do track individually permitted non-major facilities in PCS or ICIS-NPDES.

• The Completeness of Clean Water Act Discharge Monitoring Data map can help users determine whether compliance information displayed on ECHO for non-major facilities is complete. (Pollutant discharges reported by the facilities via Discharge Monitoring Reports that are entered into the national databases are automatically compared to the facilities' permitted discharge limits to determine whether the limits have been violated. States that do not enter the data into the national database are required to have their own tracking systems to review incoming reports for violations.)
• EPA receives summary noncompliance data for CWA non-major facilities, via the Annual Noncompliance Report. Data from recent reports are displayed on ECHO, as are links to the reports.

Inspections
Large or "major" facilities may be inspected/evaluated as often as annually. Smaller facilities may be inspected/evaluated less frequently (approximately every five years), thus appearing uninspected on ECHO. EPA and the states also determine compliance through means other than on-site inspections/evaluations. For example, many facilities are required to self-report certain violations. Also, inspections for smaller CAA and CWA facilities may only be tracked in a state's database and not the EPA database.

Enforcement Actions
Enforcement actions that have not been filed are not displayed on ECHO and are not publicly releasable, nor are criminal enforcement actions. In addition, not all violations receive formal enforcement actions. Violations that are minor, short in duration, or quickly corrected by the facility may not warrant formal enforcement action. Also, action may have been taken prior to the five years of data shown in ECHO. The relevant state environmental agency may have additional information.

Compliance assurance and enforcement activities related to federal environmental laws are conducted by EPA, authorized or delegated states, tribal and local jurisdictions. Each level of government works to ensure that information in national data systems is accurate. The migration of data from many jurisdictions to multiple national program databases is a challenging task. Some state and local jurisdictions directly enter data to national databases, while others maintain their own databases and transfer data to EPA through batch processing. Under both approaches, steps are taken to ensure that the data are of high quality:

• Each national database maintains standards and procedures for ensuring data integrity on a day-to-day basis. Through periodic analysis, conference calls and national meetings, database managers at all levels of government work to ensure quality information.
• EPA pilot-tested public access to data for approximately 600 facilities in 1998 by posting it on the Internet. Statistics compiled under this pilot effort indicated a high level of data quality.
• EPA pilot-tested public access for more than 40,000 facilities in four states starting in January 2001. Results of this larger pilot indicated a high degree of data quality.
• EPA and the states/tribes/locals conducted a special review period for the information released in ECHO in order to identify problems and correct data from March 2002 to November 2002. Results from the review indicated a high level of data quality.
• During the ECHO public comment period, November 20, 2002 to March 31, 2003, less than 1% of the reports within ECHO were found to have data quality errors. For more information about the data quality rates found during the comment period, please review the ECHO Public Comment Period Summary and Response to Comments (PDF, 2.05MB).
• Isolated data problems that are identified over time are listed on the Known Data Problems page. Often these problems are associated with the conversion of new software or databases. For example, when EPA or states update to new technology, it is possible that information does not enter the system immediately.
• If you identify errors while using ECHO, please take advantage of the error reporting feature available on each facility report. You will receive confirmation of the action that is taken to address the error notification.

The reports posted below explain the results of two random audits conducted by the EPA Office of Compliance. All states and EPA regions participated in the inspection audit, conducted in 2002, just prior to ECHO release. Most participated in the enforcement action audit conducted in 2004. File reviews at that time indicated a high level of data quality in the national data systems.

The audits assessed state and EPA inspection and formal enforcement action data in several national databases [Air Facility System (AFS), Permit Compliance System (PCS), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information System (RCRAInfo), and Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) for federal enforcement actions] and derived statistically valid conclusions about the data. The audit examined data regarding CAA federally reportable stationary sources, CWA active major dischargers, and RCRA treatment, storage and disposal facilities and large quantity generators.

The inspection audit found that in fiscal year 2001 87% of facilities in the universes examined in AFS and PCS had completely accurate data in key fields, and 97% of facilities in the universe examined in RCRAInfo had completely accurate data in key fields. Missing inspections accounted for most errors in AFS and PCS. For the facilities that had inspections in the data systems, the inspection information was accurate more than 95% of the time. (Based on the survey methodology used, EPA is 95% confident that these accuracy rates are within 4% of the true value for AFS and PCS, and within 2% of the true value for RCRAInfo.)

The enforcement action audit found that in fiscal year 2003 95% of facilities in the universe examined in AFS, 93% of major facilities in PCS, and 97% of facilities in the universe examined in RCRAInfo had completely accurate data in key fields. (Based on the survey methodology used, EPA is 95% confident that these accuracy rates are within 2% of the true values.)

Results of Inspection Audit (PDF, 1.15 MB)
Results of Enforcement Action Audit (PDF, 361 KB)