DMR Exceedance Search Criteria Help

Search for facilities with DMR exceedances across the U.S., without restrictions on location or watershed.

Search for facilities with DMR exceedances based on their location in the Facility Registry Service (FRS). If the location is not populated in FRS, location information in ICIS-NPDES is used. Narrow search results based on ZIP Code, EPA Region, State, City, and County.

The 5-digit mail code for the facility address. This field is not required to be populated in the source database.

Search Considerations: The search will produce results if the specified ZIP code matches the first five digits of any facility's ZIP code in FRS or ICIS-NPDES. ZIP codes are not required in FRS or ICIS-NPDES. If a facility's ZIP code is blank in the Loading Tool database, then the ZIP code search will exclude the facility.

The EPA designated area that U.S. states, territories, and tribes are assigned to. There are 10 EPA regions.

The U.S. state the facility is located in.

The city name for the facility location.

Search Considerations: City names can be blank in FRS and ICIS-NPDES. If the city name is not provided for a facility, then the city name search will produce no results for that facility.

The county name for the facility location.

Search Considerations: County names can be blank in FRS and ICIS-NPDES. If the county name is not provided for a facility, then the county name search will produce no results for that facility.

Search for facilities based on watershed. Narrow search results based on ZIP code, Watershed ID (HUC), and Major U.S. Watersheds.

The 5-digit mail code for the facility address in FRS. If the ZIP code is not populated in FRS, then the ZIP code in ICIS-NPDES is used. This field is not required to be populated in the source database.

To identify discharges in watersheds that overlap with the specified ZIP code's geographic boundaries. For this type of search, the search will produce results if:

1. The specified ZIP code overlaps with a Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) in the Watershed Boundary Database
2. The corresponding HUC is connected with a NPDES ID in the Watershed Boundary Dataset;
3. The corresponding NPDES ID is in ICIS-NPDES; and
4. The NPDES ID has DMR measurements in ICIS-NPDES.

The code assigned by the U.S. Geological Survey to classify watersheds in the United States and the Caribbean. Code consists of twelve digits which correspond to six levels of classification Region (first-level, 2-digit HUC), Subregion (second-level, 4-digit HUC), Accounting unit (third-level, 6-digit HUC), Cataloging unit (fourth-level, 8-digit HUC), Watershed (fifth-level, 10-digit HUC), and Subwatershed (sixth-level, 12-digit HUC). This field is not required to be populated in the source database.

Search Considerations: The Loading Tool links facility discharges with hydrologic unit codes (HUC-12) using a WATERS web service. Searching on HUC-12 will produce results if the WATERS web service returns NPDES IDs that correspond to the specified HUC-12. For more information see Overview of Watershed Data.

This menu includes major watersheds: the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, Chesapeake Bay, Columbia River Basin, Delaware Bay, Delaware River Basin, Great Lakes, Long Island Sound, Lower Columbia River Basin, Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin, Mobile Bay, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and Tampa Bay. Many of these watersheds consist of several HUC-12 codes. Maps of these watersheds are available from HUC Maps and Codes for Major U.S. Watersheds.

This menu also provides options to search watershed boundaries defined by:

USGS: The U.S. Geological Survey classifies watersheds in the U.S. and the Caribbean into 21 regions, represented by 2-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs).

Large Aquatic Ecosystems (LAEs) Program: EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans & Watersheds classifies LAEs to include multiple small watersheds and water resources within a large geographic area that provides significant resources or services, such as food supply, recreation and tourism, groundwater recharge, flood management, air purification, nutrient cycling, and wildlife habitat.

National Estuaries Program (NEP): The NEP identifies nationally significant estuaries of the U.S. for protection and restoration. EPA administers the NEP, but program decisions and activities are carried out by committees of local government officials, private citizens, and representatives from other federal agencies, academic institutions, industry, and estuary user-groups. Estuaries are selected for inclusion in the program through a nomination process. There are currently 28 estuary programs implemented in the U.S.

To impaired water bodies: Under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, states, territories, and authorized tribes are required to develop lists of impaired waters. Impaired water bodies are waters that are too polluted or otherwise degraded to meet the water quality standards set by states, territories, or authorized tribes. The law requires that these jurisdictions establish priority rankings for waters on the lists and develop TMDLs for these waters. A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still safely meet water quality standards.

Pollutants contributing to a water body impairment: Search for all pollutants discharged by the facility that are potentially contributing to the impairment of local water bodies.

To counties or watersheds with ESA-listed aquatic species: Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed aquatic species are a group of organisms that live in the water for most or all of its life and are designated as threatened or endangered under the ESA. The purpose of the ESA is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend on. It is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Identify facilities at or above the 80th percentile for one or more of the environmental justice (EJ) indexes of EJScreen, EPA's screening tool for EJ concerns. EPA uses EJScreen as a screening tool to identify geographic areas that may warrant further consideration or analysis. Note that use of this filter does not designate an area as an “EJ community” or “EJ facility.” EJScreen provides screening level indicators, not a determination of the existence or absence of EJ concerns. For more information, see the EJScreen home page.

Choose "US" or "State" to search for percentile values for EJ indexes nationwide or relative to Census block groups within the same state. The default is US when Yes or No is selected for EJScreen Indexes At or Above 80th Percentile.

Choose "Block Group" to search for percentile values based on the census block group the facility is located in. Select "1-mile Maximum" to search based on the maximum percentile value for any census block group within a 1-mile radius of the facility. The default is block group when Yes is selected for EJScreen Indexes At or Above 80th Percentile.

Choose one of two methodologies for calculating EJScreen indexes. The indexes are a combination of environmental and socioeconomic information. The Environmental Justice Index uses a two-factor demographic index that averages Percent Low Income and Percent People of Color Populations. The Supplemental Index uses a five-factor demographic index that averages Percent Low Income, Percent Unemployed, Percent Limited English Speaking, Percent Less than High School Education, and Low Life Expectancy. The default is Supplemental Index when Yes or No is selected for EJScreen Indexes At or Above 80th Percentile.

Select the number of indexes at or above the 80th percentile of the environmental justice (EJ) indexes of EJScreen.

Choose a percentage threshold to search for facilities based on the racial composition of the surrounding three-mile radius. The field is calculated by subtracting the number of persons who are white (and not of Hispanic origin) from the total persons. This number is then divided by the total persons and multiplied by one hundred to determine the percentage.

Choose a percentage threshold to search for facilities based on the percent of the population of the surrounding three-mile radius that have an income less than two times the poverty level, based on the 2015-2019 ACS 5-Year Summary.

When “Yes” is selected, your search results will be limited to facilities or permits flagged as being located in Indian country, based on information entered in EPA's Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS). The accuracy and completeness of this information varies by system, and may differ from the FRS Tribal Land Code. “Indian country” is defined by statute at 18 U.S.C. 1151 to include all lands within Indian reservations, dependent Indian communities, and allotted lands. When “No” is selected, your search results will exclude any facilities or permits that are located in Indian country. “ANY” will not restrict search results.

When “YES” is selected, your search results will be limited to facilities or permits flagged as being located in Indian country, based on information that has been entered in EPA’s Facility Registry Service. The accuracy and completeness of this information varies by data system. “Indian country” is defined by statute at 18 U.S.C. 1151 to include all lands within Indian reservations, dependent Indian communities, and allotted lands. When “NO” is selected, your search results will exclude any facilities or permits that are located in Indian country. “ANY” will not restrict search results.

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

Search for facilities located on or near a tribe, based on spatial/locational association. The information is based on EPA comparison of facility coordinates (in Facility Registry Service) to the U.S. Census Bureau 2016 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 Spatial Tribal Boundary” criteria. "No Restrictions" is selected by default and does not restrict search results. 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.

When "All Tribal Options" is selected, your search results will return facilities that matches on all selected Indian Country/Tribal Land search criteria. When "Any Tribal Option" is selected, your search results will return facilities that matches on any of the Indian Country Land search criteria selected. These options are not enabled until two or more Indian Country/Tribal Land search criteria are selected.

This selection will return all industry classifications, including Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) and industrial dischargers (non-POTWs).

A POTW is a sewage treatment plant that is owned and usually operated by a government agency. POTWs are typically owned by local government agencies and are usually designed to treat domestic sewage.

Search Considerations: The Loading Tool identifies POTWs using the Facility Type Indicator Code in ICIS-NPDES. This field is required to be populated in the source database.

This selection will return all Industrial Point Sources that are not classified as POTWs and are often referred to as "non-municipals" or "industrials." Industrial point sources may include privately owned treatment works, water treatment plants, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), or any manufacturing or commercial activity.

Specific industry categories that facilities are grouped in based on the release of pollutants from discrete point sources. Each point source category is subject to effluent guidelines under the CWA. However, the Drinking Water Treatment category is not a regulated category under the effluent guidelines, but is included to provide the capability to easily search for this industrial sector.

Search Considerations: Point source category classification is based on a facility's primary SIC code in ICIS-NPDES. SIC codes are not required to be reported in ICIS-NPDES. Searching on point source category will only return records for facilities that 1) have a primary SIC code in ICIS-NPDES, and 2) have a SIC code that maps to a point source category.

Code that describes the primary activity of the facility. The two-digit code defines a major business sector, the four-digit code contains two additional numbers that denote a facility's specialty within the major sector. Choose a two-digit code from the dropdown menu or enter a four-digit code. Use the lookup feature to search for an SIC code. See the U.S. Department of Labor website for more information.

Search Considerations: For SIC code searches, the Loading Tool identifies matching facilities based on their primary SIC code in ICIS-NPDES. SIC codes are not required to be reported in ICIS-NPDES. Searching by SIC code will only return records for facilities that have a primary SIC code in ICIS-NPDES that matches the specified SIC code for the search.

The first two-digits of the six-digit code represents the industry sector, in which there exist 20 broad sectors. These sectors are provided by name in the dropdown. See the U.S. Census website for more information. This field is not required to be populated in the source database.

Search Considerations: Searching on this field will only return results for facilities that have NAICS codes in ICIS-NPDES.

Permit holder name, as maintained in ICIS-NPDES.

Search for DMR exceedances by facility identifier. Separate multiple IDs with a comma or carriage return. The search form allows for up to 1,500 IDs to be entered at once.

NPDES ID - A unique 9-character ID assigned for each permit within the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. The ID may contain both letters and numbers and often begins with the two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the facility is permitted.

FRS ID - A 12-digit code used to uniquely identify a facility site within the EPA FRS database. FRS uniquely identifies a facility by assigning an identification number (FRS ID) and uses this FRS ID to link together all regulatory program database records (such as for permit IDs and facility IDs that facilities use in reporting to EPA).

TRI ID - A unique 15-character ID assigned to each facility within the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. The format is ZZZZZNNNNNSSSSS, where ZZZZZ = ZIP code, NNNNN = the first 5 consonants of the name, and SSSSS = the first 5 non-blank non-special characters in the street address.

CWNS ID - A unique identifier for a facility in the Clean Watershed Needs Survey. Most facilities identified are publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). Every four years, EPA and states conduct the survey to determine the capital needs for municipal wastewater treatment facilities to meet the goals in the Clean Water Act.

Search for a facility or permit by permit classification. Permit classifications include:

• NPDES Individual Permit - An individual NPDES permit is unique to each facility. The limitations and other conditions in an individual permit are based on the facility's operations, type and amount of discharge, and receiving stream, among other factors.
• NPDES Master General Permit - A NPDES permit that covers multiple facilities that have similar discharges and are located in a specific geographic area. A general permit applies the same or similar conditions to all dischargers covered under the general permit. This is the record for the general permit that is issued by the permitting authority. It sets the conditions with which permittees will be required to comply. The Master General Permit contains no facility-specific data, and compliance and enforcement data are associated with a Master General Permit (rather any data would be associated with the General Permit Covered Facility).
• NPDES General Permit Covered Facility - A NPDES facility that is covered under a Master General Permit.

A facility classification from the NPDES permitting authorities based on toxic pollutant potential, ratio of discharge flow/stream flow volume, conventional pollutant loading, public health impact, water quality factors, and proximity to coastal waters. For industrial facilities, EPA developed a permit rating worksheet, used by permit writers to assist with classification of a facility as major or non-major. See EPA NPDES Permit Rating worksheet (PDF). Industrial facilities that scored 80 points or higher using this worksheet were classified as major facilities. Publicly owned treatment works (POTWS) with 1 million gallons of flow per day or greater and POTWs serving a population of 10,000 or greater were also classified as major facilities. Lastly, the Regional Administrator or State Director can also designate facilities as major facilities independent of the worksheet or above criteria. The non-major designation includes municipal and industrial facilities that have not been designated as majors. EPA places greater priority on major facilities and requires authorized states to provide more information about the compliance status of these dischargers. For more information, refer to About the Data.

The Water Pollutant Loading Tool presents data from ICIS-NPDES and Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). This feature provides criteria for restricting results based on inclusion in ICIS-NPDES. Facilities may be linked at the facility, industry, and pollutant level. For further information about how facilities are linked, please refer to Linking DMR and TRI Data in the Water Pollutant Loading Tool.

Only include facilities that link to TRI ID(s): This selection will return facilities in ICIS-NPDES that link to TRI ID(s). The Loading Tool uses Facility Registry System (FRS) identification numbers to link NPDES permit numbers to TRI facility IDs. A TRI ID is a number used to uniquely identify facilities in EPA's TRI database.

Report TRI releases to surface waters: This selection will return facilities that report direct discharges to receiving streams or water bodies to TRI based on a facility and pollutant linkage.

DO NOT report TRI releases to surface waters: This selection will return facilities that DO NOT report direct discharges to receiving streams or water bodies to TRI.

Only include facilities that DO NOT link to TRI ID(s): This selection will return facilities in ICIS-NPDES that DO NOT link to TRI ID(s).

Clear selection: Clears the current selection for the compare feature.