New online enforcement database from U.S. EPA

Last week U.S. EPA launched a new and user-friendly database containing searchable information on approximately 40,000 water pollution dischargers all around the country. This tool will be very helpful to river groups interested in keeping track of where the pollution sources are in their watershed, and in following up to make sure enforcement follows violations.

The new database summarizes enforcement data for dischargers around the country. You can investigate how many permits have been issued in your state, how frequently violations are occurring and how frequently formal enforcement action is taken (among other things).

I played around with the data for Utah and found this database to be a big improvement over previous tools of the like. You can map facilities, see specifics about the violations, and sort in several helpful ways. Of course, the tool is only as good as the data inside it -- check out the pop-up windows with descriptions of what percentage of data EPA estimates your state provided for analysis.

According to the U.S. EPA press release about the new database:

"The new web page provides interactive information from EPA’s 2008 Annual Noncompliance Report, which pertains to about 40,000 permitted Clean Water Act dischargers across the country. The report lists state-by-state summary data of violations and enforcement responses taken by the states for smaller facilities. The new web page also makes it easy to compare states by compliance rates and enforcement actions taken and provides access to updated State Review Framework (SRF) reports. "