NPDES Electronic Reporting FAQs

e-Reporting FAQs

The Clean Water Act establishes the NPDES permit program for the control of the discharge of pollutants into the nation’s waters. The NPDES program requires permitted facilities and certain other regulated entities monitor and report data on pollutant discharges and take other actions to ensure discharges do not affect human health or the environment. Currently, some regulated entities subject to NPDES reporting requirements submit data in paper form to states and other regulatory authorities, where the information must be manually entered into data systems.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule. The rule requires regulated entities to report information electronically, instead of filing written paper reports. The rule does not change what information is required. It only changes the method by which information is provided (i.e., electronic rather than paper-based). The rule also requires states and other regulatory authorities to share data electronically with EPA. The data that these regulatory authorities will share with EPA includes the data they receive from regulated entities, along with the compliance monitoring (e.g., inspection), violation determination, and enforcement action data they generate themselves.

EPA anticipates electronic reporting will save time and resources for regulated entities, states, tribes, territories, and the U.S. Government by eliminating paper reports. EPA also expects electronic reporting to increase data accuracy, improve compliance, and support the goal of providing better protection of the nation's waters. Electronic reporting will help provide greater clarity on who is and who is not in compliance and enhance transparency by providing a timelier, complete, more accurate, and nationally-consistent set of data about the NPDES program. It will provide EPA and states the ability to strategically address the most serious water pollution problems while using limited resources efficiently.

EPA is phasing in the requirements of the rule. The two phases of the rule, and their key milestones, are:

  • Phase 1 – Starting on December 21, 2016, regulated entities that currently submit DMRs to NC DEQ will begin submitting these reports electronically, instead of on paper. At the same time, regulated entities that submit Biosolids/Sewage Sludge Annual Program Reports to EPA (but not to state governments) will begin submitting these reports electronically. Also at the same time, states and other regulatory authorities will begin sharing their compliance monitoring (e.g., inspection), violation determination, and enforcement action data electronically. Additionally, these regulatory authorities will submit an implementation plan for meeting the Phase 2 data requirements for EPA to review.
  • Phase 2 – Starting on December 21, 2028, regulated entities that currently submit certain other NPDES reports will begin submitting these reports electronically, instead of on paper. Reports covered in the second phase include: Notices of Intent to discharge (NOIs) under a general permit, Notices of Termination (NOTs) of coverage under a general permit, No Exposure Certifications (NOEs) under a stormwater general permit, Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Program Reports, and a number of other programs.

Electronic reporting potentially affects all NPDES-regulated entities that are required to submit the reports discussed above. These entities include all NPDES-permitted facilities, whether covered by an individual permit or general permit, industrial users located in cities without approved local pretreatment programs, and governmental entities that have received NPDES program authorization or are implementing portions of the NPDES program in a cooperative agreement with EPA. Importantly, the rule does not change who is required to submit NPDES information. It only changes the method by which information is provided (i.e., electronic rather than paper-based). Also, the rule includes flexibility to grant temporary or emergency waivers from electronic reporting. To obtain an electronic reporting waiver, a regulated entity must first submit an electronic reporting waiver request to the appropriate regulatory authority.

Regulated entities and state and federal regulators will use existing, available information technology to submit, share, and manage the required data. EPA is working with states, tribes, territories, and third-party software vendors to develop and have in place all of the necessary electronic reporting tools. Recognizing that many states, tribes, and territories have their own electronic data systems and reporting tools for managing NPDES data, the electronic reporting rule provides flexibility on the specific data systems and reporting tools to be used.

EPA has developed electronic reporting tools for NPDES data and is making them available to states. EPA’s tools are web-based and require only a computer, an Internet browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer), and high-speed access to the Internet (i.e., DSL, fiber optic). These tools communicate securely, requiring passwords and known responses to security questions. They are designed to provide your electronic submittals with the same level of legal dependability as paper submittals. States have the option of using EPA’s tools directly, installing and hosting their own version of EPA’s tools, or developing their own tools.

Stormwater eDMR FAQs

No, filing reports for one permit does not affect reports for permits from other permitting programs. You will need to submit separate reports for each permit issued to your facility.

Reports should be created for the month in which the samples were taken. The monitoring period in your permit is the timeframe in which the samples should be taken, but the report in the eDMR system needs to be created for the month in which the samples were actually taken.

The report is created for the full month and must include all of the days of that month when submitted. The eDMR system will not accept a report for a sample until the following month because the final day of the month when a sample might be taken has not yet occurred.

Searching “My Reports” will produce reports that have been created only by the user performing the search. If you did not create a report, it will not show up under the “My Reports” option. If you need a report that you did not create, go to the “Search Reports” option and enter the permit number.

Read through your appropriate General Permit and sample for the parameters that are required for your facility activities. Leaving excess parameters blank will not prevent you from submitting a report. Do not enter N/A or zero for any unreported parameters.

You might be looking at the “eDMR Page” dropdown on the main report screen, which only indicates the pages that have already been added to the report. You need to click “Create New Page” at the bottom of the Create Report screen to add additional outfall pages to the report. If you still can’t find the outfall, contact the appropriate permit coordinator.

If you are required to do monthly monitoring due to being in Tier Response, you can submit monitoring data for one outfall without submitting data for the remaining outfalls. eDMR does not prevent you from submitting reports that do not have data for all outfalls. In the Comments section, state why some of the outfalls are being left unreported.

No, you will have to delete the current report and create a new report for the correct monitoring period.

Refer to Chapter 7 of the Stormwater eDMR User Guide.

The status of the report will show “Submitted.” Reports marked as “Certified” or “Validated” means the report has not been submitted.

Only users with submitter privileges can submit reports. See the Six Step Process for guidance on how to obtain submitter privileges.

Please verify that you set up security questions at the time you gained submitter privileges. If you did not set up security questions, you will need to contact the Stormwater eDMR Administrator to reset your account.

Once a report has been submitted, it cannot be deleted. The only option is to revise the existing report and resubmit it.

On the eDMR page for that outfall, there should be a box titled “No Flow/Discharge from Site.” Just check that box and in the comment section enter “No rainfall for the monitoring period.”

You will need to notify the Stormwater Permitting Program so we can make internal changes. If DMRs have already been submitted for that outfall in eDMR, we cannot remove the outfall completely until the next permit renewal cycle. The outfall will have a monitoring suspension placed on it in the interim and reporting will not be required.

Please view the Stormwater eDMR User Guide or visit User Documentation.

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