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Industrial Permit Dashboard (IPD) Guide - Summary of Key Terms

What is the Industrial Permit Dashboard?

The Industrial Permit Dashboard (IPD) provides a comprehensive overview of industrial facilities, both public and private, across the United States that have had changes to their Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit allowances. Alongside information about these permit modifications, the dashboard offers details on the specific industry, facility address, and contact information for each facility. The primary goal of the IPD is to facilitate connections between facilities that have undergone changes to their wastewater discharge permits and potential solutions providers.

How does Citylitics identify permit changes?

Citylitics' software analyzes vast amounts of EPA data, meticulously identifying permit limits that are the same in every aspect except for their limit value and effective date. This information is then highlighted in the Industrial Permit Dashboard (IPD). The software not only verifies that critical parameters—such as the type of pollutant, sampling method, and statistical measures—are consistent, but it also assesses other important factors like monitoring locations and specific features of the permit. For a comprehensive list of these parameters, please contact Citylitics directly.

Facility Information Table

NPDES ID 

The NPDES ID is a unique identifier given to the facility by the Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, if present, the NPDES ID column is hyperlinked to the Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) facility webpage.

Permit Name

This is the name of the facility recorded in the NPDES permit system.

Facility Name

The facility name as recorded in the general EPA system.

Address

The street number, street name, city, state code, and ZIP code of the facility. 

Facility Phone

The general phone number of the facility.

MGD

The MGD indicates in millions, the gallons per day of wastewater discharge emitted by the facility. If the MGD is blank, this means that the MGD of the facility is not recorded by the EPA.

Industry

The industry is a Citylitics-generated field that is based on the EPA's industrial classification of the facility.

Permit Limit Adjustments Table

Pollutant

The pollutant refers to the individual contaminant that was measured within the wastewater discharge sample of an EPA-permitted facility.

Previous Permit Start Date

The date at which the previous permit (the permit directly before the current permit) began. 

Current Permit Start Date

The date at which the current permit began.

Current Permit End Date

The date at which the current permit will end.

Measure Type

The measure type is either "concentration," which refers to the percentage of a specific contaminant present in the sample, or "quantity," which indicates the total amount of that contaminant present in the sample.

Sample Type

The sample type indicates the measurement classification of the discharge test. “MIN”, “AVG”, “MAX” or “TTL” correspond to the smallest, average, largest, or total of the sample measurements taken within a reporting period.

Units

The reported units are the units of volume used for the wastewater discharge sample.

Previous Permit Limit

The previous limit value is the amount of pollutant that was allowed in the facility wastewater discharge under the previous permit.

Current Permit Limit

The current limit value is the amount of pollutant that was allowed in the facility wastewater discharge under the current permit.

Adjustment %

The adjustment % is the percentage change from the previous permit to the current permit.

Facility & Permit Export Table

Using the Facility & Permit Export button will generate a spreadsheet that includes all the fields from the Facility Information Table and the Permit Limit Adjustments Table as well as the following fields:

Monitoring Location Code

The code assigned to the monitoring location where the monitoring requirements and applicable effluent limits are enforced. Examples of code values include 1, which represents "Effluent Gross" and 2, which represents "Effluent Net."

Permitted Feature Number

The permitted feature number is a number that represents which feature, such as an outfall or a disposal site, is limited by the permit.

Permitted Feature Type Code

The permitted feature type code is a code that indicates the type of feature limited by the permit. Examples of code values include EXO, which represents "External Outfall" and INO, which represents "Internal Outfall."

Limit Sample Type Code

The limit sample type code is a code that indicates the wastewater sampling method. Examples of code values include CA, which represents "Calculated," and 24, which represents "24 Hour Composite."

Limit Unit Code

The limit unit code is a code that links to sampling unit.

Limit Value Type Code

The limit value type code is a code that indicates the type of limit set by the permit, such as Q1, "Quantity 1" or C2, "Quantity 2."

Frequency of Analysis Code

The frequency of analysis code is a code that determines how often the data must be analyzed. The standard format is expressed as XX/YY, where XX represents the number of sampling occurrences and YY indicates the duration over which the sampling was conducted. For instance, 01/01 represents daily sampling, while 01/BA represents sampling once per batch.

Statistical Base Code

The statistical base code is a code that denotes the unit of measurement related to the limit. Codes include DD for "Daily Maximum," and 3C for "30-Day Average." 

Permitted Months

The permitted months are all months for which the limit applies.

Facility ID

The Facility Registry Service (FRS) ID is a unique identification number assigned to each facility by the EPA.

Contact Information Table

Contacts are added to the IPD when a member of the client team requests them using the "Contact Request Form" linked in the bottom left corner of the dashboard:

 

Requested contacts will be added to the contact table and the number of contact requests available will decrease. Contacts can be exported using the "Contact Export" button on the top right corner of the dashboard.