About Data & Data Governance

What is Data?

Data is a collection of information gathered by observations, measurements, research or analysis. It may consist of facts, characteristics of persons, places, or things, numbers, names, or even description of things. Federal regulation defines it as, “recorded information, regardless of form or the media on which the data is recorded.” (Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3502[16])

Data is distinct from information, which is what results from the analysis of data, including processed and organized data presented in a specific context that provides knowledge or meaning. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines information as, “any communication or representation of knowledge such as facts, data, or opinions in any medium or form, including textual, numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative, or audiovisual forms.” (Source: OMB Circular A-130)

EPA data is a critical agency’s ability to the following:

• Understand what is happening in the environment
• Make strong, science-based decisions
• Respond quickly to environmental problems
• Shape policies and programs
• Communicate clearly with the public
• Maintain trust and accountability

It is also an important public resource that enables citizens to understand and track environmental conditions in their neighborhoods, monitor the compliance of local industrial facilities, monitor drinking water quality, and so much more.

Data Powers EPA’s Mission

EPA data are critical strategic assets and fundamental to the agency’s ability to accomplish its mission to protect human health and the environment. Ensuring EPA data are trustworthy, available, reliable and secure are fundamental principles for sound decision-making, environmental response, policymaking, regulatory decision-making and enforcement.

Implementing consistent, agency-wide data governance practices enables the agency to more effectively coordinate and perform data management activities throughout the data lifecycle and across EPA’s programs. This promotes trust in EPA’s data, supports regulatory compliance, and strengthens security. It also allows internal and external consumers of EPA’s data to better find, access, integrate, reuse and analyze its data and build evidence about impacts to environmental and human health results.

In all its core agency data management practices, EPA strives to incorporate openness and interoperability requirements that enable its data to be discoverable while maintaining privacy, confidentiality, security and other access, use and dissemination restrictions. This includes aligning agency data management practices with FAIR Principles – or making data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. These are defined as:

• Findable – Metadata and data should be easy to find for both humans and computers.
• Accessible – Users need to know how they can be accessed, possibly including authentication and authorization.
• Interoperable – Data needs to be integrated with other data and to interoperate with applications or workflows for analysis, storage, and processing.
• Reusable – Metadata and data should be well-described so that they can be replicated and/or combined in different settings.

Learn more about the following:

• EPA Data Governance bodies that establish EPA’s data management policies and ensure alignment with Evidence Act and other federal open data requirements.
• EPA Data Stewardship responsibilities for managing data throughout the data lifecycle.