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How to Report an Error

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 Overview
As a user of ECHO, you can assist us in maintaining high quality information in our systems. Comments about facility data are normally made by staff at the facility, but the general public can also comment if errors are suspected. Numerous state and local governmental agencies as well as the U.S. EPA are involved in preparing and maintaining the facility-level enforcement and compliance data found on ECHO. These agencies are committed to providing the public with the highest possible quality of information related to each facility's compliance record. To this end, users noticing data errors on the Detailed Facility Reports can send a notification directly from the ECHO Web site.
 How to Report an Error from a Detailed Facility Report

Step 1: Initiate error reporting from the Detailed Facility Report (DFR)

Step 1: Initiate error reporting from the Detailed Facility Report (DFR)

Step 2: Report a general or specific error with DFR

Step 2: Report a general or specific error with DFR

Step 3: Provide contact information

Step 3: Provide contact information

Step 4: Submit your comment

Step 4: Submit your comment
 How to Report a DMR Error

How to Report a Clean Water Act Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) Error

Water DMR errors can be reported through ECHO’s Effluent Charts. ECHO Effluent Charts allows users to graphically view effluent data. Users can access Effluent Charts by clicking on the purple "E" button available in the ECHO Results or Detailed Facility Report.

Purple E Button

Effluent charts are presented in alphabetical order by pollutant parameter. Users can click on “View detail” to see the exact data used to create the chart.

Example Effluent Chart

A user can review effluent charts to find the monitoring data that might be in error. Once the suspected error is identified, click on the “Report Error” button at the top of the page.

Report Error Button on Effluent Charts

Each chart will now have a “Submit an Error” button above it. Click on “Submit an Error” for the chart where the error occurs to open an error reporting form for that chart.

Submit an Error Button on Effluent Charts

The error reporting form will ask for the submitter's contact information in order to keep the submitter informed of progress in addressing the report. Please include enough information to allow EPA to identify the data in question.

Discharge Monitoring Data Error Reporting Form

Click on the button labeled “Submit Report” to send the error correction request to the appropriate EPA Regional of state water data steward. Once the report is submitted, it will be entered into EPA’s Integrated Error Correction Process. The submitter will receive an immediate acknowledgement, and status updates as EPA determines how to address the report

Notification of Successful Error Report to EPA's Integrated Error Correction Process
 Error Reporting Data Flow

This section describes the steps involved in the error reporting process. The error reporting flow chart summarizes the same information graphically.

  1. User notices a potential error.
  2. User clicks on "Report Error" button, is prompted for basic contact information and information about the nature of the error, and submits the error online.
  3. User receives an email confirmation that EPA has received the error.
  4. User receives a second email (usually within 2 business days) that the error has been routed to an EPA or state Action Officer for research. User is provided with the email address for this Action Officer. User may decide to contact action officer to expedite changes.
    5. If more information is needed to process the error notification, the action officer may contact the requestor.
  5. User receives a final email with the resolution by the action officer, and general information about when any needed corrections will show up in the system.
  6. Correction will be seen by the user at the next time of data refresh.

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