Query Form User's Guide

The Permit Compliance System (PCS) is a national computerized management information system that automates entry, updating, and retrieval of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) data and tracks permit issuance, permit limits and monitoring data, and other data pertaining to facilities regulated under NPDES.

This is a brief user's guide to the PCS Query Form. Select between a variety of different query options and output options detailed below. Contact Us for additional queries or suggestions that you would find useful.

Select more than one query option at a time to speed up the query and make the retrieval more focused. Only those facilities matching all specified criteria will be retrieved.

Facility Identification Search Option

Facility Name

Enter the complete or partial facility name to retrieve all facilities with that name. Select the "Containing" option when entering a partial name for a better retrieval the first time you access the data. When an "Exact Match" option is specified for a facility name, do not specify another option; only one facility will be retrieved.

NPDES ID

Enter the complete (nine-character) or partial National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) ID to retrieve all facilities with that ID. If it is more than nine characters, an error message will appear. Select the "Containing" option when entering a partial ID for a better retrieval the first time you access the data. When an "Exact Match" option is specified for a permit ID, do not specify another option; only one facility will be retrieved.

EPA Facility ID

Enter the complete or partial facility ID to retrieve all facilities with that ID. Select the "Containing" option when entering a partial ID for a better retrieval the first time you access the data. When an "Exact Match" option is specified for a facility ID, do not specify another option; only one facility will be retrieved.

Geography Search Option

Select from five geographical search options: ZIP Code, City, County, State, and EPA Region.

ZIP Code

The ZIP code entry can be five digits or fewer.

Address

Enter a complete or partial street address.

City

Enter a complete or partial city name.

County

Enter a complete or partial county name.

State

Enter a two-character state postal abbreviation. A list of the postal abbreviations and the state names is provided below:

AK = Alaska	AL = Alabama	AR = Arkansas
AS = American Samoa	AZ = Arizona	CA = California
CN = Canada	CO = Colorado	CT = Connecticut
DC = District of Columbia	DE = Delaware	FC = Other Foreign Countries
FL = Florida	FM = Federated States of Micronesia	GA = Georgia
GU = Guam	HI = Hawaii	IA = Iowa
ID = Idaho	IL = Illinois	IN = Indiana
IQ = Misc. U.S. Pacific Islands	IT = All Indian Tribes	KS = Kansas
KY = Kentucky	LA = Louisiana	MA = Massachusetts
MD = Maryland	ME = Maine	MH = Marshall Island
MI = Michigan	MN = Minnesota	MO = Missouri
MP = Northern Mariana Islands	MQ = Midway Island	MS = Mississippi
MT = Montana	NC = North Carolina	ND = North Dakota
NE = Nebraska	NH = New Hampshire	NJ = New Jersey
NM = New Mexico	NV = Nevada	NY = New York
OH = Ohio	OK = Oklahoma	OR = Oregon
PA = Pennsylvania	PR = Puerto Rico	PW = Palau, Republic of
RI = Rhode Island	SC = South Carolina	SD = South Dakota
TN = Tennessee	TX = Texas	UT = Utah
VA = Virginia	VI = Virgin Islands	VT = Vermont
WA = Washington	WI = Wisconsin	WQ = Wake Island
WV = West Virginia	WY = Wyoming

Region

Enter the two digit numeric value for the EPA Region. A list of the EPA Regions and the states in those regions is provided below:

REGION	STATES
Region 01	Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut
Region 02	New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
Region 03	Pennsylvania, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia
Region 04	Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida
Region 05	Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio
Region 06	New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana
Region 07	Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri
Region 08	Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado
Region 09	California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii
Region 10	Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Search Option

SIC Description

Enter a complete or partial SIC description to obtain a list of all SIC codes under that description. For example, entering "metal" will retrieve all facilities with SIC codes that have "metal" somewhere in the SIC description. Click on "Use PCS SIC Code Values" to retrieve data from PCS or "Use Facility Identification SIC Code Values" to retrieve data from the Facility Identification Tables.

SIC Code

The SIC Code entry can be four digits or fewer. If it is more than four digits, an error message will appear. The first two digits in the code define a major business sector, and the last two digits denote a facility's specialty within the major sector. Click on "Use PCS SIC Code Values" to retrieve data from PCS or "Use Facility Identification SIC Code Values" to retrieve data from the Facility Identification Tables.

Parameter (Chemical) Name Search Option

Chemical Name

Enter a complete or partial chemical (parameter) name. There can be various common names for the same chemical, so if the name you enter is not listed under that name for the facility, the PCS query will not retrieve a facility that you might want to see.

Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) Number

Use the "Lookup CAS Number" button to select a CAS Number, or enter the chemical's CAS Number in the field.

Permit Expired Date Search Option

Enter a Permit Expired Date range. The numeric format is MMDDYYYY, where MM indicates month, DD indicates day, and YYYY indicates year (e.g., month=06, day=21, year=1995). To retrieve permits expiring after a certain date, enter a starting date only. To retrieve all permits expiring before a certain date, enter an ending date only.

Permit Issued Date Search Option

Enter a Permit Issued Date range. The numeric format is MMDDYYYY. where MM indicates month, DD indicates day, and YYYY indicates year (e.g., month=06, day=21, year=1995). To retrieve permits expiring after a certain date, enter a starting date only. To retrieve all permits expiring before a certain date, enter an ending date only.

Major Dischargers Only

Check this option to retrieve facilities that have been identified as major dischargers.

Search Values Option

Click on "Use Multisystem facility information to perform facility search" to identify facilities, using facility information from all program systems. Click on "Use PCS facility information to perform facility search" to identify facilities, using only PCS facility information.

Output Selection Search Option

PCS facilities range from public sewage treatment works to large petrochemical plants. Any business location (public, private, or federal) that discharges into the nation's lakes, rivers, or streams should be a PCS facility.

Basic Facility Information

PCS facilities obtain a permit from EPA or a State authority which "permits" the facility to discharge specified pollutants up to a defined limit. These permits generally expire after 5 years and have to renewed by EPA or the State authority.

The Basic Facility Information that you will receive with this query identifies the facility's geographic location and consists of the following variables:

NPDES
Facility Name
Address: The Facility Address is a combination of the following individual attributes in the PCS system:
County Name
Permit Issued Date
Permit Expired Date
SIC Code
SIC Description
Corporate Link: Indicates whether the facility record is linked to environmental information on that organization's website.
Mapping Info: Provides facility latitude and longitude coordinates, and the ability to generate maps using Envirofacts mapping applications.
USGS HUC

Permitted Discharges Information

PCS facilities obtain a permit from EPA or a State authority which "permits" the facility to discharge specified pollutants up to a defined limit. Certain parameters (chemicals, water temperature, oxygen content, etc.) of the facility discharge are monitored by EPA or the State to ensure that the facility does not exceed its permit. The output identifies the geographic location of the facility, the discharge points (pipes) of the facility, and the parameters that are monitored for each discharge point. The output, organized by facility, is shown first in a label format, followed by a tabular listing of the additional information.

Facility Information:

NPDES
Facility ID: Click on the hot-linked facility ID to execute Facility Identification Query results for that facility.
Facility Name
Street 1
City
County Name
State
ZIP Code
Region
Mailing Name
Permit Issued Date
Permit Expired Date
SIC Code

Corporate Link: Indicates whether the facility record is linked to environmental information on that organization's website.
Mapping Info: Provides facility latitude and longitude coordinates, and the ability to generate maps using Envirofacts mapping applications.

Additional Tabular Output:

The names of chemicals listed under the Parameter Description column link directly to their respective chemical factsheets.

Usage Constraints

Information in the PCS database can be freely accessed through the use of this query. The complexity of the query is up to the user. Queries that return a large volume of data may terminate prematurely due to system limitations. The constraints established for the enviro user account (the query uses this to connect to the Oracle database) are:

Each query is limited to 2.5 minutes of Central Processing Unit (CPU) time.
A single session can be 15 minutes in duration.
A session may stay idle for 7.5 minutes, at which time it will be terminated.

Develop queries that return small batches of data and terminate the session as soon as the queries have been executed, so that others can access the database.

Return to:

PCS Table & Column Information