Priority Area 5:
Compliance Reporting Under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)

 

Water pollution degrades surface waters making them unsafe for drinking, fishing, swimming, and other activities. As authorized by the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States.

Four states – Illinois, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Texas – requested that NPDES reporting requirements be altered.  Three NPDES reports are currently required under NPDES regulations (40CFR 123.45).  They are:

1. The Quarterly Noncompliance Report (QNCR) – A report on major NPDES permittees (“major” refers to the size of a facility) in noncompliance.
2. The Semi-Annual Statistical Summary – A report on the number of major permittees with two or more violations of the same monthly average permit limitation in a six-month period.
3. The Annual Noncompliance Report (ANCR) – A report on the total number of “nonmajor” permittees that have been reviewed, the number of noncomplying nonmajor permittees, the number of enforcement actions, and the number of permit modifications extending compliance deadlines.

The states recommended that EPA reduce the reporting frequency for the QNCR and eliminate the Semi-Annual Statistical Summary and ANCR.  EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) is responding to these recommendations by preparing a proposed rule – called the NPDES Program Management Information Rule -- that would identify the minimum NPDES data that EPA needs from NPDES agencies (authorized states and EPA Regions) to manage the national program.  The rulemaking process would provide another opportunity for states to comment on EPA’s data needs and NPDES agency reporting.

EPA cannot now predict the data that would be identified in the proposed rule because the rulemaking development process is still underway, but OECA expects that the rulemaking would enable EPA to collect the necessary data to eliminate the Semi-Annual Statistical Summary and the ANCR requirements.  The ANCR could be eliminated to the extent that the replacement rule enabled EPA to effectively collect minor permittee discharge monitoring report data using the new data system.  QNCR requirements will not be changed.  (ICIS-NPDES is a database for collecting NPDES data.  See Priority 6 for more information on the database.)  Currently, OECA projects the final rule will be issued in the last quarter of calendar year 2009.  Until a replacement rule becomes effective, the QNCR, Semi-Annual Statistical Summary, and ANCR remain as regulatory requirements. 

Aside from the major NPDES reports discussed above, two other reporting burdens related to NPDES fall under this priority area. 

• Minnesota, Mississippi, and South Carolina recommended that EPA streamline another database called the Electronic Permit Issuing Forecasting Tool (E-PIFT) so that it is no longer redundant with PCS.  EPA has since eliminated E-PIFT.  See Recommendation W4 for more information.
• Alabama and Kansas recommended that Regions eliminate the requirement to submit all draft major and minor NPDES permits, including applications.  Region 7 has already agreed to eliminate the requirement to submit draft or final minor non-stormwater/ non- concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) permits.  Discussions between Alabama and Region 4 have not begun.  See Recommendation W23 for more information.