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ECHO Tool Guide
General Resources
- ECHO Help has links to ECHO training, tutorials, and other instructions.
- Facility Search Tutorial
- Frequently Asked Questions
- About the Data
Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) provides many ways to access integrated data from a variety of EPA data systems. Not sure where to start? The navigation guide will help you get around, and this Tool Guide can help you find the best feature for your needs.
Use the following links to go directly to a category of interest:
Deciding Which Tools to Use
Common Uses of ECHO
| If you want to | Use this page | Instructions | Help Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learn more about using ECHO | ECHO Quick Start Guide, ECHO Video Tutorials, and ECHO Training | New users are encouraged to view the ECHO video tutorials. | ECHO Help |
| Report a data error that you have noticed | Error reporting buttons can be found on Detailed Facility Report, Civil Enforcement Case Report, and Effluent Chart pages. | From the Detailed Facility Report, Case Report, or Effluent Chart, click on the "Report Error" button. Error reports will be routed to the appropriate EPA or state data steward, and you will get notification of the action taken by the data steward. | How to Report an Error and Facility-Level Enforcement Compliance Data and Error Reporting Tutorial |
| Obtain nationwide facility data | Data Downloads and Web Services | Access ECHO Data Services from the ECHO Home page. | Use the Download Summary links for help content related to each specific dataset. |
| Determine when data were pulled from the program systems or when data will be refreshed next | About the Data | -- | N/A |
| Identify enforcement cases meeting specific criteria | Enforcement Case Search | Use the "Find EPA Cases" quick search from the ECHO Home page or use the enforcement case search form to select criteria of interest to find relevant cases. Click “View More Search Options” to expand the available criteria. | Enforcement Case Search Help and Enforcement Case Search Results Help |
General Facility Information
| If you want to | Use this page | Instructions | Help Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get a facility report based upon a single known ID number or facility name (Note: Facility reports can be used to answer FOIA requests or requestors can be directed to ECHO.) | ECHO Home Quick Search | Select the "Facility Name/ID" search type from the Quick Search options, enter the facility name or ID into the search box, and click Search. Select the red "C" icon in the Search Results Table to view the Detailed Facility Report. | Search Results Help |
| Identify what regulated facilities are located within a geographic region | ECHO Home Quick Search | Enter a city, state, and/or ZIP code in the Quick Search by Location search box and click Search. | Search Results Help |
| Look up a large number of facilities based upon a known list of ID numbers | Facility Search | Paste up to 2000 IDs into the Permit ID box (in the Facility Characteristics section). | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help |
| Analyze a group of CAA, CWA, or RCRA facilities based upon a list of ID numbers. (For example, "which facilities from this list of ID numbers are in SNC?") | Facility Search for All Data, Air, Water, or Hazardous Waste | Paste up to 2000 IDs into the Permit ID box (in the Facility Characteristics section). Select the current compliance status of interest from the Enforcement and Compliance section. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help |
| Identify facilities meeting specific criteria | Facility Search | Use the facility search form to select criteria of interest to find relevant facilities. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help |
| Get a multimedia report to determine whether facilities within one program are in violation under another. | Facility Search | The Detailed Facility Report will provide a multimedia report showing compliance status for all permits/IDs linked to a facility. | Facility Search Help, Search Results Help, and Detailed Facility Report Help |
Media-Specific Facility Information
| If you want to | Use this page | Instructions | Help Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analyze, for a given state or region, how many facilities are within a sector, or determine the overall inspection presence/violation rate within a sector | All Data Facility Search | Try a SIC or NAICS code search on the All Data Facility Search for an industry of interest (lookup links are provided). | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help – All Data |
| Determine which facilities are subject to CAA MACT standards | Air Facility Search | Select “View More” at the top of the search form, and choose a MACT Subpart under Facility Characteristics. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help – Air |
| Determine the compliance status or last inspection of facilities reporting releases of TRI chemicals | Facility Search for All Data, Air, Water, or Hazardous Waste | In the Enforcement and Compliance section of the search form, use the Time Since Last Inspection or Current Compliance Status sliders with a selection from the TRI Reporter dropdown in the Pollutants section. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help |
| Display effluent data and violations in graphical format for a particular NPDES permit, permit parameter, or permit outfall | Water Facility Search and ECHO Home | Select search criteria using the Water Facility Search, or use the "Quick Search” on the ECHO home page and enter the facility name or ID into the Search By "Facility Name/ID" search box. Select the blue “E” icon in the Search Results Table to view the Effluent Charts. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, Search Results Help – Water, and Effluent Charts Help |
| See which CWA facilities did not submit Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) (Note: Lack of DMR data also may indicate the region or state has not entered the data) | Water Facility Search | Under Enforcement and Compliance, select the Current Compliance Status “Failure to Report.” | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help – Water |
| Determine violations or inspection presence in priority water bodies (303(d)-listed waters) | Water Facility Search and Industrial Stormwater Facility Search | Under Environmental Conditions, select “Discharging into Impaired Waters” equals Yes. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help – Water |
| Find information on the water bodies that NPDES facilities are located on or near | Water Facility Search | Enter at least three characters into the Watershed Names text box under Facility Characteristics. Select a Watershed from the dropdown list to add it to the search criteria selected panel. On Search Results page, select water body information to display from “Customize Columns” menu. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help – Water |
| Perform inspection targeting based upon industry sector for the RCRA program (SIC or NAICS code) | Hazardous Waste Facility Search | Use search options under Facility Characteristics. (Note: RCRAInfo does not have SIC codes, but ECHO does have SIC data for RCRA sites based upon other databases.) | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help – Hazardous Waste |
| Identify facilities with SDWA PWS IDs that have current violations | Drinking Water Facility Search | Use the Current Violations list under Enforcement and Compliance. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help – Drinking Water |
| Determine, for individual federal agencies, which sites have been inspected and which have violations | Advanced Facility Search for All Data, Air, Water, or Hazardous Waste | First, select a Federal Agency under Facility Characteristics. Then choose from various inspection and violation search criteria under Enforcement and Compliance. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help |
| Perform a screening for facilities in high minority areas that have not been inspected | Advanced Facility Search for All Data, Air, Water, or Hazardous Waste | First, narrow your geographic search, then choose the permit type (size of facility), then choose the length of time it has been since an inspection occurred, then use the percent minority restriction. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, and Search Results Help |
| Identify facilities that have biosolids compliance monitoring or enforcement data | Biosolids Facility Search | First, narrow your geographic search, then choose facility characteristics, enforcement and compliance information, and demographic profile. | Facility Search Help, Facility Search Criteria Help, andSearch Results Help – Water |
Data Quality and National and State Compliance Trends
| If you want to | Use this page | Help Content |
|---|---|---|
| Review national enforcement and compliance trends across states and territories | State Comparative Maps | State Comparative Maps Help |
| Monitor multiple metrics and summary data at a national or state level | State Dashboards | Dashboards Help Home |
| Determine whether inspection coverage, discovery of violations, enforcement actions, and average penalties are increasing or decreasing over time within a state | State Comparative Maps and State Dashboards | State Comparative Maps Help and Dashboards Help Home |
| Review summary environmental compliance and enforcement performance and trend information available on ECHO | Annual Reports and State Review Framework Summaries | N/A |
| Identify each state's readiness to implement electronic reporting based on ICIS-NPDES data. | NPDES eRule Readiness and Data Completeness Dashboard | NPDES eRule Dashboard Help Documentation |
| Identify unresolved DMR non-receipt violations prior to the quarterly permit compliance status calculation. | NPDES DMR Non-Receipt Status Search | NPDES DMR Non-Receipt Status Search Overview |
ECHO Catalog
| Feature Name | Media | Tutorials/Recorded Training | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intro To ECHO | All Media | Intro To ECHO Webinar | Learn the history of the ECHO site, the sources of the data, the uses for ECHO, and the statutes that are included in the ECHO facility search function. |
| Quick Search | Facility Search Tutorial | Identify what regulated facilities are located within a geographic region. | |
| Single Facility Search | Facility Search Tutorial | Get a facility report based upon a single facility name or program ID number. | |
| All Data Facility Search | Facility Search Tutorial | Search across all program records for regulated facilities. Customize search results columns and download data. | |
| Map Filter | Water, All Media | Intro to ECHO Map Filter: 1/24/2017 Webinar | Brings facility analysis into a simple map-based format that makes it easy to turn facilities on and off based on many different data themes. |
| Air Facility Search | Air | Search for stationary sources regulated under the CAA. View reported emissions on ECHO's Air Pollutant Report or obtain additional air emission information. | |
| Water Facility Search | Water | Advanced ECHO Webinar: Water | Search for NPDES permits regulated under the CWA. View reported discharges on ECHO's effluent charts or obtain additional water quality information. |
| Effluent Charts | Water | ECHO CWA Effluent Charts Tutorial | The Effluent Charts page presents dynamic charts and tables of permitted effluent limits, releases, and violations over time for Clean Water Act (CWA) wastewater discharge permits issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). |
| Water NPDES Program Area Searches: Industrial Stormwater Biosolids | Water | Facility search interfaces tailored to individual discharge program sectors. Provides transparency of new data to be submitted electronically as a result of NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule implementation. | |
| Water Pollutant Loading Tool | Water | Advanced ECHO Webinar: Water | The tool calculates pollutant loadings from permit and DMR data from EPA's ICIS-NPDES and displays TRI water release data. |
| TRI and DMR Comparison Dashboard | Water | TRI and DMR Comparative Dashboard Tutorial Series | Video introduction for the TRI-DMR Comparison Dashboard. |
| NPDES DMR Non-Receipt Status Search | Water | Identify unresolved DMR non-receipt violations prior to the quarterly permit compliance status calculation. | |
| NPDES eRule Readiness and Data Completeness Dashboard | Water | Identify each state's readiness to implement electronic reporting based on ICIS-NPDES data. | |
| Drinking Water Facility Search | Drinking Water | Search for public drinking water systems regulated under SDWA. View information about the system and source water, lead and copper samples, compliance status, contaminants, and enforcement activities. | |
| Hazardous Waste Facility Search | Hazardous Waste | Search for hazardous waste handlers regulated under RCRA Subtitle C. Search by criteria such as facility designation, enforcement and compliance history, and TRI releases and transfers, among others. | |
| EPA Enforcement Case Search and Report | All Media | Coming Soon | Search for EPA administrative and judicial civil enforcement actions, as well as EPA criminal prosecutions data. Also review the contents of a case report. |
| Detailed Facility Report | All Media | The Detailed Facility Report provides a multimedia view of compliance and enforcement history for all permits/IDs linked to a facility. | |
| State Comparative Maps | Air, Water, Hazardous Waste | State Comparative Maps and Dashboards Tutorial | Review national enforcement and compliance trends across states and territories on an interactive map. |
| State Dashboards | Air, Water, Hazardous Waste | View charts and summary information about compliance and enforcement metrics at a national or state level. | |
| Drinking Water Dashboard | Drinking Water | The dashboard provides an easy-to-use summary of key activities: which PWSs are regulated, how many PWS have been inspected, how many systems have had alleged violations identified and enforcement action taken, and how many systems have returned to compliance. | |
| Pesticide Dashboard | Pesticides | The FIFRA dashboard focuses on compliance and enforcement activities for the regulated universe of pesticide-producing establishments, which includes pesticide manufacturers, sellers and distributors. | |
| Corporate Compliance Screener | All Media | This tool organizes existing ECHO facility data into reports that highlight recent compliance issues or enforcement actions based upon data entered into national data systems of record. | |
| Report Environmental Violations | All Media | A webpage and mobile phone version of EPA's Report Environmental Violations page offers a streamlined form and the option to access the user's location (with permission) and allow the public to submit pictures and video. |