ECHO data focuses on compliance- and enforcement-related information for EPA-regulated facilities, including:

• Permit data
• Inspection/compliance evaluation dates and findings
• Violations of environmental regulations
• Enforcement actions
• Penalties assessed

ECHO includes EPA and state, local, and tribal environmental agency compliance and enforcement records that are reported into EPA national databases. ECHO also incorporates many EPA environmental data sets to provide additional context for analyses. Learn more about:

• ECHO Data Sources and Refresh Dates
• Data Completeness
• Data Quality
• Use of ECHO Data

ECHO Data Sources and Refresh Dates

Below is a summary of data included in ECHO. Note that the time period of data displayed throughout ECHO can vary:

• The past five years of facility inspection and enforcement data (from the date of extraction from the national data system of record) are presented.
• The past three years of facility compliance data are presented as quarters of compliance (three-month periods) based on the federal fiscal year.
• All years of EPA formal enforcement action data from EPA's Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) are available via the EPA Enforcement Case Search.
• Additional years of data are available in the ECHO Downloads.

Data are typically refreshed on a weekly schedule from EPA source databases. The most recent and next expected refresh dates are provided in the table below. Note that fiscal year data used in the Comparative Maps and State Dashboards are typically frozen at the beginning of the following year (e.g., fiscal year 2014 data were frozen in early 2015). Data for the current fiscal year to date are updated consistent with the table below.

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Data Completeness

ECHO presents data as-reported to the original source databases. Data contained in EPA national databases generally are more complete for larger facilities. When conducting analyses, understand that the types of facilities that tend to have more complete data are described differently in each source database:

• Clean Air Act facilities: active, "federally-reportable" sources.
• Clean Water Act facilities: active, "major" permittees.
• Hazardous waste facilities: operating treatment, storage, and disposal facilities and active large quantity generators.

Data for smaller facilities can vary widely (i.e., nonexistent, a partial representation, voluntarily entered by some states and not by others). Understanding the mix of required and non-required data helps with interpreting whether ECHO information is complete. Additionally, it can be helpful to consult state environmental agencies or state databases.

Additional information is available to gain a better understanding of the variability among data reporting requirements for regulated facilities:

• Data Entry Requirements – A matrix illustrating the variability of reporting requirements for the major EPA program systems utilized by ECHO (ICIS-Air, ICIS-NPDES, RCRAInfo, and SDWIS). For example, states are not required to report violations occurring at Clean Water Act non-major facilities, thus data regarding violations at those facilities may not be available via ECHO. This matrix describes such requirements.
• Inspection frequencies are typically based on the size of the facility, though regulators have options for determining inspection frequency:
  • For example, large or "major" facilities may be inspected/evaluated annually, on a two-year cycle, or even several times during a year
  • Smaller facilities may be inspected/evaluated every five years
  • Compliance may be determined through means other than on-site inspections/evaluations
  • Many facilities are required to self-report certain violations
  • Inspections for smaller CAA and CWA facilities may only be tracked in a state's database and not reflected in the national database
• Information available for enforcement actions can vary:
  • Enforcement actions that have not been concluded are not displayed in ECHO (however, underlying violations are normally reported prior to completed government enforcement)
  • Criminal enforcement actions are not displayed in ECHO (although ECHO does link to the EPA criminal enforcement cases search page)
  • Note that not all violations receive formal enforcement actions - in fact, many minor violations are corrected by facilities without the need for formal action
  • Enforcement actions taken more than five years ago are not included in facility searches; however, the EPA Enforcement Cases Search (coming soon) will allow searching beyond the past five years, as will other anticipated features
  • The relevant state environmental agency may have additional information
• Data often are not complete for CWA non-major facilities, because EPA has not finalized regulations requiring entry of such data.
• Generate a comparative map by selecting the Water tab, choose "Facilities Reporting Discharge Monitoring Reports" and click "Refresh Map" to view completeness of compliance information presented in ECHO.
• Annual Noncompliance Reports provide summary noncompliance data for CWA non-major facilities. Data from recent reports are displayed on ECHO, as are links to the reports.
• Guide to Regulated Facilities
• More State Data through state environmental agency websites

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Data Quality

EPA, authorized or delegated states, tribal and local jurisdictions conduct compliance assurance and enforcement activities related to federal environmental laws. Each level of government works to ensure that information contained in national databases 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 the highest quality (e.g., each national database maintains standards and procedures for ensuring data integrity on a day-to-day basis).

Data are continuously evaluated. Through periodic analysis, conference calls, and national meetings, database managers at all levels of government work to ensure quality information. Additionally:

• Error reporting is available in ECHO to communicate and correct errors that are identified while using the website. 
• Known data problems are noted on the site.

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Use of ECHO Data

The information contained in ECHO is made available to the public by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for information purposes only. No warranty, express or implied, is made by EPA or any other agency of the U.S. Government regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information.

ECHO is not designed for large scale data transfers or robotic queries. EPA reserves the right to disable users that initiate robotic, programmed queries.