Guide to Regulated Facilities in ECHO

There are multiple ways ECHO can be used to search compliance data. By default, ECHO searches focus on larger, more regulated facilities. Each search page allows users to search a more comprehensive group of facilities by electing to search for minor or smaller facilities.

The following tables show the types and approximate numbers of facilities (or "universe" of facilities) that are included in searches when the default options are used.

Clean Water Act (CWA) Permit Types
CWA Permit Characteristics Default Permit Status Default Permit Type Universe Size
Major YES YES 7,000
Non-Major YES YES 191,000
General Permit Covered Facility YES No 150,000
Inactive Permits (Permit Status = Retired, Terminated) No No 138,000

Notes: Universe sizes as of July 2016.

Clean Air Act (CAA) Facility Types
CAA Facility Type Default Search Criteria Universe Size
CAA Major (Title V) Facilities YES 15,000
CAA Synthetic Minor Facilities YES 25,400
CAA Federally-Reportable Minor Facilities YES 125,000
CAA Emission Classification Unknown YES 1,400
CAA Other Facilities YES 10
CAA Designation Not Applicable Facilities YES 600
CAA Inactive Facilities (all types of permits) No 62,000

Notes: The table above undercounts CAA minor facilities because states are only required to enter a subset of minor sources in the ICIS-Air system. Note that some states do enter all minor sources on a voluntary basis. Universe sizes as of July 2016.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Designations
RCRA Designation Default Active Universe Size
Any RCRA Treatment, Storage or Disposal Facilities (TSDF) YES YES 2,000
Operating RCRA Treatment, Storage or Disposal Facilities (Operating TSDF) YES YES 700
RCRA Large Quantity Generators (LQG) YES YES 39,000
RCRA Small Quantity Generators (SQG) YES YES 135,000
RCRA Very Small Quantity Generators (VSQG) (1) YES YES 239,000
RCRA Transporters YES YES 13,000
RCRA Facilities Not Represented Elsewhere (Other) YES YES 12,000
RCRA Inactive Permits (all types of permits) No No 428,000

Notes: RCRA IDs are assigned to operations involved in generating, transporting or otherwise managing hazardous waste. Universe sizes as of July 2016.

  (1) RCRA Very Small Quantity Generators (VSQG) reporting is not mandatory and therefore includes only those sites that have reported such activities. Not all Implementers track VSQG information or are able to enter the requested information in RCRAInfo, therefore the universe of VSQGs may not accurately reflect all VSQGs.

Safe Drinking Water Act

Under SDWA, all public water systems are subject to the same rules and reporting requirements. All active public water systems (about 150,500) are searched by default.