1. MICHIGAN’S Electronic Discharge Monitoring Reporting System (e-DMR)
Michael Beaulac
February 28, 2005

2. What Are Discharge Monitoring Reports?
Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR): daily & monthly reports submitted to State water regulators by facilities (i.e., industry & municipal WWTP) permitted (NPDES) to discharge treated effluent to lakes and rivers
DMRs include: compliance limits of all chemical parameters in the wastewater effluent for each permitted facility
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The Paper Burden!
DMRs reportedly the second-largest federal or state reporting requirement, following only IRS tax returns
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Why MI needed e-DMR?
Eliminate Manual Data Entry:
State officials manually entered mailed DMRs into state database
Data entered again into EPA's Permit Compliance System
Data coding error rate: 4-10 % (depending on who you believe)
DMR paper backlog: 3 year’s worth
Lack of data access: Staff who needed daily DMRs most didn’t have access to the paper forms.
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5. What We Did to Make it Happen
Schema Development
Team assembly
Financial backing (& commitment)
Schema creation
Develop back-end system - NMS
“Bucket” to capture daily DMRs, including water chemistry
Query & reporting capabilities
Enhanced availability for district staff
3. Testing & Implementation
Facility => State: May 2003
Node Development: Summer – Fall 2003
State => EPA: January 2004
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6. What We Did to Make it Happen
4. Outreach/Marketing - Communications
Pilot testing – w/Industry reps
Mass Education – w/200 attendees
Web - demo
Project Website
Exchange Network
On-line user manuals
Brochures (targeted)
Presentations
Press events/releases
Incentives/Disincentives
Paper DMRs no longer delivered to facilities
Field inspector site visits
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7. Michigan e-DMR Data Flow – Big Picture
Complete data flow from:
Permitted Facilities => State => EPA’s
Permit Compliance System!
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8. Michigan e-DMR Facility-to-State Data Flow
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9. Michigan e-DMR State-to-CDX Data Flow
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10. NPDES Management System (NMS) & e-DMR System
NPDES Management System (NMS) Database
e-DMR (E2)
System
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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11. Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS / e-DMR - Scenario
NMS Database
E-DMR (E2)
System
1) DEQ Staff add permit
Limits to NMS for
a Facility
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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12. 2) NMS copies Permit limits Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS / e-DMR - Scenario
NMS Database
E-DMR (E2)
System
2) NMS copies Permit limits
to e-DMR System
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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13. NMS / e-DMR - Scenario NMS Database E-DMR (E2) System
3) Facility retrieves their
Limits from e-DMR System
and fills out an e-DMR
document
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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Facility User Login to the e-DMR System…
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Select Which Month’s DMR to Work With…
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…and fill out the DMR Data using the Online Data Entry forms…
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Enter your personal PIN Number and Certify your Submission…
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18. 4) Facility submits their Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS / e-DMR - Scenario
4) Facility submits their
DMR back to the
e-DMR System
NMS Database
E-DMR (E2)
System
5) e-DMR System sends an
confirmation
back to facility
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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19. 6) e-DMR System sends DMR Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS / e-DMR - Scenario
NMS Database
E-DMR (E2)
System
6) e-DMR System sends DMR
data back to NMS
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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20. NMS / e-DMR - Scenario NMS Database e-DMR (E2) System
7) NMS checks e-DMR for
compliance and creates
a violation if necessary
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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…and view the status of your submitted DMRs!
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22. 8) DMR data now available Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS / e-DMR - Scenario
NMS Database
E-DMR (E2)
System
8) DMR data now available
to DEQ Staff for
Evaluation, etc…
Internet Users (Regulated Facilities)
NMS Users (DEQ Staff)
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System Architecture
Target customers: State Agencies
Client-Server based application
Developed using Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0
Use Integrated Window Authentication
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NMS On-line Queries
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25. Summary of Discharges Statewide
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26. Review of Daily Measurements
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27. Michigan’s Facility Participation Results
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28. State Water Bureau Benefits
Reduce data coding operators and other staff resources (but increases help desk need)
Improves data quality: facility => State => EPA by elimination of data coding errors
Improves the MI wastewater program efficiency … shifts focus to C & E
Three-year backlog of paper reports eliminated … and never to appear again!
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29. State Government Annual Cost Savings & ROI
Annual Savings: $250,000 - $500,000 (at full implementation with all 1,180 facilities)
Return on Investment: years
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Facility Benefits
Annotated Quotes from our Permitted Facilities …
“Saves my compliance admin costs … streamlines the DMR reporting process”
“… provides immediate feedback of compliance status for proper actions”
“… will increase the amount of data accessible for trend analysis”
“… data entry errors are reduced …”
“Time saver … more traceable than paper … immediate confirmation of receipt”
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31. Facility Annual Cost Savings
… at least $2,000 saved per facility per year
or $2,360,000*
*(… and this may be low)
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Public Benefits
Increases public access to environmental information via the web (future scope)
Increases Water Bureau staff’ availability for better respond to public inquiries (i.e., problem solving)
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33. Upcoming e-Applications
Permitting - (June 2004 – December 2007)
Toxic Release Inventory – (January - February 2005)
Groundwater Reporting - (March 2005)
STORET – (March - April 2005)
Drinking Water Reports - (March 2005)
AWR and Tier II – (Winter 2005/2006)
Homeland Security – (Winter 2005/2006)
Air Quality Reporting – (Winter 2006)
Dry Cleaning – (Winter 2006)
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Further Information
Michael Beaulac
MI Department of Environmental Quality
Jeff Jones
December 29, 2018
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