Document ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2003-0074-0473
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2003-12-24T05:00Z

ICIS
 
Integrated
Compliance
Information
System
ECHO
 
Enforcement
and
Compliance
History
Online
February
24,
2003
Information
that
is
used
to
manage
and
assess
performance
of
the
Agency's
enforcement
and
compliance
assurance
program
is
stored
in
more
than
a
dozen
current
data
systems.
These
systems
were
built
to
support
specific
environmental
statues.
In
general,
data
in
the
systems
is
input
by
either
EPA
regions
or
States.
These
systems
are
the
primary
source
of
information
used
in
determining
the
state
of
environmental
compliance.
The
Agency
is
in
the
process
of
modernizing
its
enforcement
and
compliance
data
systems.
The
product
of
that
modernization
is
the
Integrated
Compliance
Information
System
(
ICIS).

The
Enforcement
and
Compliance
History
Online
(
ECHO)
is
a
Web­
based
tool
that
provides
compliance,
permit,
and
demographic
data
for
approximately
800,000
facilities
regulated
under
the
Clean
Air
Act
stationary
source
program,
the
Clean
Water
Act
direct
discharge
program,
and
the
Resource
Conservation
and
Recovery
Act
hazardous
waste
generation
program.
ECHO
also
provides
access
to
information
contained
in
ICIS.
Currently
this
tool
is
in
the
pilot
stage.
The
comment
period
for
this
pilot
phase
has
been
extended
to
March
31,
2003.
ECHO
allows
users
to
find
permit,
inspection,
violation,
enforcement
action,
and
penalty
information
covering
the
past
two
years.
The
data
in
ECHO
are
updated
monthly.

Purpose:
ICIS
will
support
the
information
needs
of
the
National
Enforcement
and
Compliance
program
as
well
as
the
unique
needs
of
the
National
Pollutant
Discharge
Elimination
System
(
NPDES)
program.
ICIS
will
integrate
the
data
that
is
currently
located
in
the
more
than
a
dozen
separate
data
systems.
The
Web­
based
system
will
eventually
enable
individuals
from
states,
communities,
facilities,
and
EPA
to
access
integrated
enforcement
and
compliance
data.
ECHO
integrates
information
about
facilities
from
separate
media­
specific
data
systems.
Much
of
this
data
has
not
been
accessible
in
an
easily
understandable
and
searchable
format,
and
users
can
now
view
this
data
in
a
comprehensive
and
organized
manner.
ECHO
allows
users
to
sort
and
analyze
data
in
many
ways,
according
to
their
needs.
EPA's
ability
to
target
the
most
critical
environmental
problems
will
improve
as
the
system
integrates
data
from
all
media.

Chemicals:
This
is
a
compilation
of
all
existing
enforcement
data.
The
two
primary
databases
relevant
to
the
Office
of
Water
are
described
below.

Permit
Compliance
System
(
PCS):
The
PCS
is
a
national
information
system
that
contains
data
which
supports
the
NPDES
prgram.
PCS
tracks
permit
issuance,
permit
limits,
monitoring
data,
and
enforcement
and
inspection
activity
for
facilities
regulated
under
the
CWA.
It
contains
water­
discharge
permit
data
on
more
than
64,000
facilities
nationwide.
PCS
was
developed
in
1974
and
resides
on
a
mainframe
computer
at
EPA's
National
Computer
Center
(
NCC)
at
Research
Triangle
Park.
The
following
are
among
the
different
types
of
information
available:

°
Facility
Mailing
Address
Information
and
Labels
 
this
product
contains
primary
mailing
address
information
for
all
active
permitted
facilities
(
majors
and
minors)
for
the
most
recent
year.
°
General
Facility
and
Permit
Information
 
This
product
contains
general
facility
and
permit
events
(
e.
g.,
issuance
and
expiration
dates,
etc.)
for
all
active
permitted
facilities
for
the
most
recent
year.
°
Significant
Non­
Compliance
(
SNC)
List
 
This
product
contains
a
list
of
major
permittees
currently
in
SNC
for
the
most
recent
quarter.
°
Enforcement
Action
Information
 
This
product
contains
information
regarding
actions
taken
in
response
to
violations
of
effluent
parameter
limits,
non­
receipt
of
DMR
or
Compliance
Schedule
Reports,
or
compliance
schedule
milestones
for
all
active
permitted
facilities.
This
data
covers
the
most
recent
2­
year
period.
°
Compliance
Schedule
Information
 
This
product
contains
information
regarding
a
set
or
required
compliance
events
(
milestones
a
permitted
facility
must
accomplish
to
upgrade
the
quality
of
its
effluent
discharge
when
such
milestones
have
been
established
as
a
condition
for
granting
a
permit,
or
in
response
to
an
enforcement
action)
for
all
active
permitted
facilities.
This
data
covers
the
most
recent
2­
year
period.
°
Facility
Inspection
Information
 
This
product
contains
information
regarding
inspections
for
all
active
permitted
facilities.
This
data
covers
the
most
recent
2­
year
periods.

Safe
Drinking
Water
Information
System/
Federal
(
SDWIS/
FED):
The
SDWIS/
FED
is
EPA's
national
data
base
for
the
Public
Water
System
Supervision
Program.
It
includes
inventory,
compliance,
and
enforcement
information
on
the
nation's
170,000
public
water
systems.
SDWIS/
FED
is
an
exceptions­
based
system
that
for
the
most
part
receives
data
directly
from
SDWIS/
STATE
or
data
transfer
from
a
state's
system.
The
SDWIS/
STATE
version
is
a
data
base
that
was
designed
for
the
states
to
help
them
implement
their
drinking
water
programs
and
fulfill
EPA's
reporting
requirements.
The
Significant
Non­
Compliance
(
SNC)
Exceptions
Tracking
System
(
SETS)
is
a
sub­
system
of
SDWIS/
FED
that
generates/
tracks
significant
noncompliers

Sample
Locations:
This
is
a
compilation
of
all
existing
enforcement
data.

Sample
Design:
This
is
a
compilation
of
all
existing
enforcement
data.

Time
Period
Covered:
The
time
line
for
the
development
of
ICIS
is
given
below.

2002:
Phase
I:
Integrate
core
federal
enforcement
and
compliance
data
from
EPA
regions
and
headquarters
including:
enforcement
DOCKET,
compliance
activity
tracking,
inspection
conclusion
data
sheet,
and
interface
with
Facility
Registry
System
(
FRS).

2004:
Phase
II:
Expand
core
enforcement
and
compliance
data
to
support
a
broader
range
of
Clean
Water
Act
programmatic
needs.
State
and
Federal
CWA
permitting
and
State
enforcement
data
will
be
added,
data
requirements
for
new
programs
will
be
included,
and
permit
application
and
calculation
tools
developed.

2005+:
Phase
III:
Integrate
enforcement
and
compliance
data
systems
for
other
environmental
media
(
e.
g.,
air,
toxics,
pesticides,
and
waste).
Evaluation
Method:
Attachment
I
contains
samples
of
the
types
of
information
available
from
PCS,
the
primary
water
database.

Results:
Not
Applicable.

Contact:
Various.

Short­
term
Followup:
Review
data
to
determine
usefulness.

Long­
term
Followup:
Will
depend
on
short­
term
review.