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NPDES Program Search Criteria Help
Search criteria are organized by search page category or by term through the hyperlinks below to allow you to quickly find the search term of interest. Many search criteria are available for all facility searches whereas other criteria are only available for specific search types. Search-specific (e.g., All Data Search Only) criteria are identified below. In addition, advanced search criteria are identified below by the 
icon.
By Category
- Search Type
- Geographic Location
- Facility/System Characteristics
- Enforcement & Compliance
- Environmental Conditions
- Pollutant
Alphabetically -- Choose a search term:
Search Type
Specify the subject of the search you want to run. Search options correlate with how facilities are regulated under the Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), or you can choose to search all data.
The All Data option is selected by default. Select one of the other options from the dropdown menu to focus your search on one subject area.
Choose a NPDES Program Area
Specifies the NPDES Program Area for the search. Currently there is one program area, Industrial Stormwater. "None Selected" retains all search options in the Water Facility Search. Selecting Industrial Stormwater restricts the universe to NPDES permits with industrial stormwater components, including EPA Industrial Stormwater Multi-Sector General Permits.
Geographic Location
- EPA Region
- Use to search for information in a particular EPA Region . Choose a region from the dropdown menu. Hold down the CTRL key to select multiple regions. You may not combine an EPA Region search with a city/state, state, or ZIP Code search. Users cannot select both an EPA Region and Facility Address fields.
- Address
- Enter a street address. Be sure to try all possible variations and alternate spellings (e.g., "Route" and "Rte").
- City
- Use to search for information in a particular city. Be sure to try all possible variations and alternate spellings (e.g., try both Saint Louis and St. Louis). To search for facilities or permits in a particular city, you must also specify a state using the State dropdown menu.
- State
- Choose a state from the dropdown menu. Hold down the CTRL key to select multiple states. You may not combine a state search with a region search. It is recommended that you not combine a state search with a ZIP code search.
- ZIP Code
- Enter up to a five-digit ZIP code. Entering a partial ZIP code results with any ZIP beginning with the entry. You may not combine a ZIP Code search with a region search. It is recommended that you not combine a ZIP code search with a city or state search. Click the Add More button to add a value to the Selected Search Criteria panel and clear the input field for a new value.
- County
- After you choose a state, the County dropdown menu is populated with state-specific county options. The list of counties is not populated when multiple states are selected. Hold down the CTRL key to select multiple counties. You may not combine a county search with a region search. It is recommended that you not combine a county search with a city or ZIP Code search.
- On or Near Tribal Land
- Search for facilities that are located on or near tribal land. Search is based on EPA comparison of the facility locations in its Facility Registry Service to the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 tribal boundary layer data for tribes in the lower 48 states and Bureau of Land Management Alaska State Office data for tribes in Alaska. When “Within X miles” is selected, your search results will be limited to facilities or permits on tribal land and within the selected radius. “No Restrictions” is selected by default and does not restrict search results. You can focus your search on a specific tribal land using the “Tribes” criteria. Please note that facilities must have locational data (latitude/longitude) in EPA's Facility Registry Service to be included in this search. Data Quality Caveat
- Tribes
- Search for facilities near a tribe’s geographic location. Search is based on EPA comparison of the facility locations in its Facility Registry Service to the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 tribal boundary layer data for tribes in the lower 48 states and Bureau of Land Management Alaska State Office data for tribes in Alaska. Please note that facilities must have locational data (latitude/longitude) in EPA's Facility Registry Service to be included in this search. Data Quality Caveat .
- Selection must be made in conjunction with the “On or Near Tribal Land” criteria. "Any Tribal Land" is selected by default. Enter at least one character. Select a tribe from the dropdown list to add it to the search criteria selected panel and clear the input field for a new value.
- Watershed (HUC)
- Select a state to view Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs) available for selection. Hold down the CTRL key to select multiple HUCs. This option searches for watersheds based on location information in FRS. A HUC represents a geographic area representing part or all of a surface drainage basin, a combination of drainage basins, or a distinct hydrologic feature.
- Watershed (HUC-2)/(HUC-6)/Name
- Search for facilities by hydrologic units or watersheds. Select a region (HUC-2) then basin (HUC-6) from the dropdown menus or use the Watershed Name to search for a HUC-2 to HUC-12 by name. Enter at least one character. Select a watershed from the dropdown list to add it to the search criteria selected panel and clear the input field for a new value. Multiple selections are allowed; however, users may only select one value at a time from the dropdown list. This option searches for watersheds based on data from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) .
Data Quality Caveat: EPA makes no claims regarding the accuracy or precision of data concerning Indian country locations or boundaries on the ECHO website. EPA has simply attempted to collect certain readily available information relating to Indian country locations. Questions concerning data should be referred to the originating program or Agency which can be identified in the Envirofacts tribal query metadata files Lower48 Tribal Areas , Alaska Reservation , Alaska Native Villages , or Alaska Native Allotments . The Indian country locations shown here are suitable only for general spatial reference and do not necessarily reflect EPA's position on any Indian country locations or boundaries or the land status of any specific location. The inclusion of Indian country information on the ECHO website does not represent any final EPA action addressing Indian country locations or boundaries. This information cannot be relied upon to create any rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States or third parties. EPA reserves the right to change information on ECHO at any time without public notice.
EPA uses the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 tribal boundary layer data when developing environmental data query responses for tribes in the lower 48 United States and Bureau of Land Management Alaska State Office when developing environmental data query responses for tribes in Alaska. The tribal boundary locations identified are suitable only for general spatial reference and do not necessarily reflect EPA's position on any Indian country locations or boundaries, or the land status of any specific location. EPA seeks to use the best available national federal data and may refine the tribal boundary layer in the future as more accurate national federal data becomes available.
Facility/System Characteristics
- Facility Name
- Search for facilities or permits by name or partial name. Be sure to try all possible variations of a facility's name. For example, if an abbreviation does not work, try using whole words (i.e., International Metals Company instead of INMETCO). The search is not case sensitive.
- Words separated by a space are treated as one search term. Separate multiple search terms with a semi-colon (“;”). Alternatively, click the Add More button to add a value to the Selected Search Criteria panel and clear the input field for a new value.
- The search returns facilities that match any of the search terms. Note that a match may be found within any of the current facility names associated with the Facility Registry Service (FRS) ID; however, only the primary facility name is displayed in the search results table. The primary facility name may differ depending on the selected search type (e.g., the All Data search results table displays the facility name in FRS). For more information, see Facility Search Results Help .
- Use the dropdown list adjust the facility name search logic. You do not need to use wildcard characters (* or %) in the Facility Name field to specify search logic. Note: You can only associate one type of search logic with selected search terms.
- Find Facility Name(s) That:
- Contains Each Term (DEFAULT) – Returns facilities where all words in the facility name search terms are present in the facility name. The order of the words in a search term does not affect the search results.
For example, searching for “town bridge” returns results that contain both “town” and “bridge” within the facility name, e.g., “Bridgeport Township” or “Middletown Bridge” - Matches Exactly – Returns facilities where the facility name search terms exactly match the facility name.
For example, searching for “The First Company” only returns results with a facility name exactly matching all terms and in this order. - Matches Exact Phrase – Returns facilities where all search terms are found anywhere within the facility name. The order of the words in a search term affects the search results.
For example, searching for “town bridge” returns different results than searching for “bridge town” - Begins With – Returns facilities where the facility name search terms are found at the beginning of the facility name.
For example, searching for “bridge” returns results that begin with “bridge”, such as “Bridgeport” and “Bridgestone,” but excludes results like “Middlebridge”.
- Contains Each Term (DEFAULT) – Returns facilities where all words in the facility name search terms are present in the facility name. The order of the words in a search term does not affect the search results.
- Facility ID Number
- Search for facilities or permits by their NPDES identification numbers. Allows data entry of up to 2,000 IDs pasted from spreadsheet column, or comma- or return-separated.
- The Air, Water, and Hazardous Waste searches allow entry of partial ID numbers with at least two characters. Entry of partial IDs will return facilities with ID numbers in any program that begin with the search term.
- Note that active/operating facility or permit status is selected by default on the search form. If facilities ID are entered with active facility status also selected, you will not include inactive facilities in your search. Because some of the facility IDs may represent inactive facilities, records for all of the facility IDs may not be returned on the Search Results page.
- SIC Code
- The Standard Industrial Classification Code describes the primary activity of the facility. The first two digits in the code define a major business sector; the last two digits denote a facility's specialty within the major sector. ECHO allows you to search SIC Codes in multiple ways:
- Choose a 2-digit SIC Code from the drop-down menu.
- Type the 3- or 4-digit SIC Code into the text box. Click the Add More button to add a value to the Selected Search Criteria panel and clear the input field for a new value.
- SIC Code Lookup - Search for SIC codes by keyword.
- NAICS Code
- The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. NAICS industries are identified by a 6-digit code. The first two digits represent the Industry sector, in which there exist 20 broad sectors. The third digit represents industry subsector, the fourth digit represents industry group, the fifth digit represents industry, and the sixth digit is U.S., Canadian, or Mexican National specific. ECHO allows you to search NAICS codes by general industry sector (the two-digit NAICS code) or by industry specialty (the three, four, five, or six-digit NAICS Code).
- Type the 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-digit NAICS code into the text box. Click the Add More button to add a value to the Selected Search Criteria panel and clear the input field for a new value.
- NAICS Code Lookup – Search for NAICS codes by keyword.
- Federal Facility
- When "YES" is selected, your search results will be limited to federal facilities identified in multiple EPA national databases (ICIS-Air, ICIS-NPDES, RCRAInfo, ICIS FE&C, and TRI). These data are comprised of a mixture of state- and EPA-entered data and facility-reported and have not received the level of data quality review that the FRS data has. When "NO" is selected, your search results will exclude any federal facilities. "ANY" is the default and will not restrict search results.
- Permit Status
- Search for a facility or permit by permit status. The Permit Status values reflect the stages in the permit life cycle. Hold down the CTRL key to select multiple statuses.
- Effective - A permit that is in its lifetime (Effective Date <= current date < expiration date).
- Expired - A permit that 90 days after the expiration date has been reached on a permit that has no new Application Received Date or Complete Application Received date entered.
- Administratively Continued - A permit that is at the permit's expiration date. All monitoring data are still collected and used against the permit’s terms.
- Pending - A permit with incomplete data or a permit with an Effective Date that has not yet been reached.
- Retired - A permit that all monitoring data is stopped against a retired permit; used in conjunction with Reissue. If a Permit is reissued before its expiration date, the Permit Status Code or the previous version of the Permit will be set to Retired.
- Terminated - A permit that if the user enters the Termination Date, upon that date being reached, the system will automatically change the Permit Status Code to Terminated.
- Not Needed - A facility is tracked in the EPA program database, ICIS-NPDES, but is not required to have a NPDES permit.
Effective, Expired, Administratively Continued, Pending, and Retired are selected by default.
- Issuing Agency
- Search for facilities or permits by issuing agency. Issuing agencies include:
- EPA – Selects facilities with permits issued by EPA.
- State – Selects facilities with permits issued by a state agency.
- MSGP Notification Type
- Search for a facility or permit by EPA Mutli-Sector General Permit (MSGP) notification classification. Permit notification types include:
- Industrial No Exposure Certification (NOE) – Selects facilities with industrial materials and activities protected by storm resistant shelters to prevent exposure to rain, snow, snowmelt, and/or runoff. These facilities are eligible for an exemption from NPDES industrial stormwater permit requirements. Note that if this search option is used in combination with Permit Status, a permit status of "Not Needed" must be selected to returm results for NOEs.
- Notice of Intent (NOI) – Selects facilities that have submitted a a notice requesting authorization to discharge pollutants to waters of the United States under EPA's NPDES Stormwater Multi-Sector General Permit for industrial stormwater.
- Date Submitted
- Search for facilities or permits by the date the permit was submitted. You can select a date or a date range from the dropdown calendar.
- Date Active
- Search for facilities or permits by the date the permit was active. You can select a date or a date range from the dropdown calendar.
- EPA Industrial Stormwater Sector
- Search for facilities by EPA Industrial Stormwater Sector. Industrial Stormwater Sectors include:
- Section A: Timber Products
- Section B: Paper and Allied Products
- Section C: Chemicals and Allied Products
- Section D: Asphalt Paving and Roofing Materials and Lubricants
- Section E: Glass, Clay, Cement, Concrete, and Gypsum Products
- Section F: Primary Metals
- Section G: Metal Mining (Ore Mining and Dressing)
- Section H: Coal Mines and Coal Mining-Related Facilities
- Section I: Oil and Gas Extraction and Refining
- Section J: Mineral Mining and Dressing
- Section K: Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, or Disposal Facilities
- Section L: Landfills, Land Application Sites, and Open Dumps
- Section M: Automobile Salvage Yards
- Section N: Scrap Recycling Facilities
- Section O: Steam Electric Generating Facilities
- Section P: Land Transportation and Warehousing
- Section Q: Water Transportation
- Section R: Ship and Boat Building or Repairing Yards
- Section S: Air Transportation Facilities
- Section T: Treatment Works
- Section U: Food and Kindred Products
- Section V: Text Mills, Apparel, and Other Fabric Product Manufacturing; Leather and Leather Products
- Section W: Furniture and Fixtures
- Section X: Printing and Publishing
- Section Y: Rubber, Miscellaneous Plastic Products, and Miscellaneous Manufacturing Industries
- Section Z: Leather Tanning and Finishing
- Section AA: Fabricated Metal Products
- Section AB: Transportation Equipment, Industrial or Commercial Machinery
- Section AC: Electronic, Electrical, Photographic, and Optical Goods
- Section AD: Non-Classified Facilities
- EPA Industrial Stormwater Subsector
- Select a subsector from a dropdown, which is auto populated based on sector selection. For more information on the Industrial Stormwater Subsectors, see Appendix N on the 2015 MSGP documents page.
- Discharging into a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4)
- When "YES" is selected, your search results will be limited to facilities that discharge into a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). An MS4 refers to conveyance or system of conveyances which is owned or operated by public bodies and local or state governments. When "NO" is selected, your search results will exclude any facilities that discharge into an MS4. "No restrictions" is the default selection.
Enforcement & Compliance
Information on Severity of Violations
In Significant Noncompliance (SNC)/Category I Violations - Violations by point source dischargers of sufficient magnitude or duration to be a regulatory priority. The national program database calculates the severity of violations according to the Clean Water Act regulations, which have specific criteria specifying the duration, severity, and type of violations that rise to the level of SNC. The calculation of Category I Violations is equivalent to the SNC calculations, but because the violations occur at smaller dischargers (non-major), EPA does not classify the violations as "SNC". Repeat SNC occurrences normally are addressed through formal enforcement actions, while Category I Violations are often addressed via informal processes. (SNC/Category I types in order of severity: S=Compliance Schedule Violations, E=Effluent Exceedance Monthly, X=Effluent Exceedance Non-monthly, T=Compliance Schedule Non-receipt, D=Discharge Monitoring Report Non-receipt)
RNC/Category II Violations - Violations that are not significant upon first discovery but become significant if repeated. The non-compliance reports do not have to be submitted immediately, but are to be included the next time the facility submits monitoring reports to the regulatory agency.
- Any Compliance Status - Does not restrict search results.
- No Violations - No violation recorded in the current quarter.
- Effluent Violations: Significant Violations - The facility has exceeded the effluent restrictions established by a state or EPA on quantities, rates, and concentrations in wastewater discharges, and the exceedances meet the SNC/Category I criteria.
- Effluent Violations: Violations - The facility has exceeded the effluent restrictions established by a state or EPA on quantities, rates, and concentrations in wastewater discharges, and the exceedances do not meet the SNC/Category I criteria. Note: This selection considers the most current data available, including effluent exceedances reported after the last Quarterly Non-compliance Report (QNCR) was issued; post QNCR data are considered draft and have not been fully quality assured. A QNCR description is provided in the Detailed Facility Report Data Dictionary .
- Violations of Compliance Schedule: Significant Violations - An enforcement action has been issued, and the facility is not meeting its compliance schedule or failed to submit required data.
- Failure to Report: Significant Violations - Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) not received.
- Failure to Report: Violations - Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) missing data.
- Time Since Last Inspection
- Search for a facility or permit based on the time elapsed since the most recent inspection of the facility. When a value other than “No Restrictions” is selected, you can focus your search by choosing to search for facilities in which the last inspection was conducted by EPA or a state agency. To specify your date range, select either “Within” or “None Within” and use the slider to select up to the past 5 years. Select "Never Inspected" to search for facilities that do not have any inspections recorded in the source databases.
- Inspection Date Range
- Search for a facility or permit based on their inspections within a specific date range selected. You can select the current date and up to 5 years prior to the current date.
- Formal Enforcement Actions
- Search for a facility or permit based on the time elapsed since the most recent formal civil or administrative enforcement action taken against the facility. To specify your date range, select either “Within” or “None Within” and use the slider to select up to the past 5 years. When a value other than "No Restrictions" is selected, you can focus your search by choosing one of the following criteria:
- By Agency – The environmental agency that issued the enforcement action. ”Any” does not further restrict search results.
- By System – The EPA source database containing information about the enforcement action. “ICIS Only” will return facilities with enforcement action information found in the ICIS Federal Enforcement and Compliance database (ICIS-FE&C). “All Systems” does not further restrict search results.
- Informal Enforcement Actions
- Search for a facility or permit based on an informal enforcement action or notice of violation issued to the facility. To specify your date range, select either “Within” or “None Within” and use the slider to select up to the past 5 years. When a value other than “No Restrictions” is selected, you can focus your search further by selecting an agency.
- Penalties
- Search for a facility or permit based on when a penalty was last assessed. Select a time frame from the dropdown menu.
- Quarters in Violation (Last 3 years)
- Use the dropdown menu to search based on the number of quarters a facility, permit, or system was in violation over the past 3 years.
Environmental Conditions
- Discharging into Impaired Waters
- Limit your search to permits discharging directly into category 4 or 5 impaired waters. The impaired waters search flag includes facilities that discharge into an impaired water body for which a plan has not yet been developed - these are listed waters under the CWA section 303(d) program (category 5 water body) – as well as facilities that discharge to an impaired water body for which the state has developed a plan to return the water to its designated uses - under the Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) program (category 4 water body). “Any” is selected by default and places no restrictions on the search. Select “Yes” to identify facilities that are discharging into impaired waters or “No” to exclude facilities that are discharging into impaired waters.
- Under section 303(d) of the CWA, states, territories, and authorized tribes are required to develop lists of impaired waters. These are waters for which technology-based regulations and other required controls are not stringent enough to meet the water quality standards set by states. The law requires that states establish priority rankings for waters on the lists and develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) , for these waters. A TMDL is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still safely meet water quality standards. For more information about impaired waters or TMDLs, please visit EPA's overview of impaired waters and Total Maximum Daily Loads Program webpage . For detailed information on the categorization of impaired waters, see Section V of the 2006 Integrated Report Guidance .
- 5. Impaired - TMDL needed. Available information indicates that at least one designated use is not being supported and a TMDL is needed (also known as the 303(d) listed waters).
- 4. Impaired - TMDL not needed. Available information indicates that at least one designated use is not being supported, but a TMDL is not needed (see subcategories).
- 4a. TMDL completed. A TMDL has been completed, but impairment still exists.
- 4b. TMDL alternative. Impairment is being addressed by a method other than a TMDL (e.g., stream bank improvements).
- 4c. Non-pollutant causes. Cause of impairment is not a pollutant (e.g., habitat destruction).
- Note that locational data (latitude and longitude) are needed to index NPDES permits to the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Reach Address Database (RAD) . For some facilities, locational data are not available, so whether the facilities directly discharge into impaired waters cannot be determined.
- For information on the completeness of 305(b) and 303(d) impairment data by state, see the Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds' NHD Reach Indexing Status by State page.
- Discharging Pollutants Potentially Contributing to Impairment
- Search for NPDES permits that discharge pollutants that are potentially contributing to the impairment of local waterbodies.
Pollutant
CWA Surface Water Discharges
TRI Program Chemical Releases
- Monitoring or Limit Data
- The date range during which discharges are measured or monitored. To specify your date range, select “Within” and use the slider to select up to the past 5 years. Selecting a number of years requires the selection of either Pollutant Name, Pollutant Category, or CAS Number. If one of these selections is made without selecting a number of years, "No Restrictions" will search on the past five years of monitoring or limit data.
- Pollutant
- The names used in ICIS-NPDES to identify the substance discharged. A pollutant name is provided for each DMR measurement in ICIS-NPDES. This selection can not be combined with Pollutant Category or CAS Number.
- Enter at least one character. Select a pollutant from the dropdown list to add it to the search criteria selected panel and clear the input field for a new value. Multiple selections are allowed; however, users may only select one value at a time from the dropdown list.
- Pollutant(s) Have Violations (past 3 years) (Water Only)
- Select the checkbox to limit your search to facilities discharging the selected pollutant(s) which have reporting violations (i.e., violation codes D80 and D90 in ICIS-NPDES) or effluent exceedances (i.e., violation code E90) in the past three years.
- Pollutant Category
- Categories of different types of pollutants. This selection can not be combined with Pollutant Name or CAS Number. Pollutant categories include:
- Conventional Pollutants - Pollutants typical of municipal sewage, and for which municipal secondary treatment plants are typically designed. Conventional pollutants are defined by Federal Regulation [40 CFR 401.16] as BOD, TSS, fecal coliform bacteria, oil and grease, and pH.
- Metals - All metals parameters. Hexavalent or trivalent metals and metals in ionic form (e.g., hexavalent chromium and aluminum, ion) are included, but metal compounds (e.g., calcium chloride) are not included.
- Nitrogen - All parameters for total nitrogen, organic nitrogen, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia.
- Organic Enrichment - All parameters for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).
- Pathogen Indicators - All parameters for total coliform, streptococci, and enteric.
- Phosphorus - All phosphorus and phosphate pollutant parameters.
- Clean Water Act Priority Pollutants - The 126 pollutants that EPA currently defines as priority pollutants .
- Solids - All parameters for suspended and settable solids. This category does not include chemical-specific solids, such as suspended copper.
- Temperature - All wastewater temperature parameters for measuring wastewater temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius.
- Wastewater Flow - All wastewater flow parameters for measuring wastewater flows in millions of gallons per day, gallons per day, and gallons per minute.
- CAS Number
- A Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) number is a number assigned by the American Chemical Society that uniquely identifies a chemical. Click the Add More button to add a value to the Selected Search Criteria panel and clear the input field for a new value, or separate multiple CAS Numbers by commas. This selection can not be combined with Pollutant Name, Pollutant Category, or Parameter Code.
- TRI Direct Water Discharges
- Pounds of toxic chemicals released directly to surface water as reported to the Toxics Release Inventory in the most recent reporting year.
- TRI POTW Transfers
- Pounds of toxic chemicals transferred to a Publicly Operated Treatment Works (POTW) as reported to the Toxics Release Inventory in the most recent reporting year.