Metric Explanation (Metadata): The state violation rates shown on EPA's website are a mix of data pulled from the national databases for states that are supplying discharge data to EPA, and state manually-reported numbers that do not have any underlying violating facilities identified. This method is used because discharge data are not required to be reported to EPA for smaller permittees. Most states are populating this information voluntarily to assist with their own program management and provide better transparency to the public. Data availability is shown so that when a user "drills into" facility-level violation data from the national map, that they understand that information about violators varies widely depending on the states data entry practices. In states that have a low data availability percent, you will not find a full listing of facilities in violation. States with a high rate will have most of their violators shown. States are required to have their own violation tracking systems, so you may be able to get missing information from individual state agencies.

Additional Explanation of Calculations: The data availability (violations) map is calculated as percent of facilities with discharge reports entered.

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