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Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR)

Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR)

  • Rough draft

    • Overview

    Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR) are periodic reports that facilities discharging pollutants into U.S. waters must submit as a condition of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. These facilities collect wastewater samples, perform chemical and/or biological tests, and submit the results to the state as DMRs.

    nVIRO includes a structured DMR entry tool that allows authorized users to enter and submit data based on the reporting requirements and effluent limits defined in their permit. Violations may be automatically created in nVIRO if DMRs are submitted late or if reported values exceed permit limits.

    DMR Framework in nVIRO

    nVIRO leverages information from several other record types to generate DMRs and evaluate submissions for potential violations.

    • Site: The site is the regulated entity responsible for monitoring and reporting wastewater pollutant levels.

      • Features: Features are key areas of infrastructure or activity at a site, which collectively form the Site Plan.

      • Permit: Each DMR is tied to a permit issued for a site.

        • Permit Features: When a feature is regulated by a permit, it becomes a permit feature. Permit features for NPDES permits are typically discharge points.

          • Limit Sets: Within a permit, limit sets define the DMR monitoring and reporting periods and group related monitoring requirements and effluent limits, often by monitoring frequency or operating condition. For each reporting period, the applicable limit set determines which DMR must be completed.

          • Limits: Each limit set contains one or more limits, which define the specific parameters to be monitored, where samples are collected, and the allowable values to be reported. These limits control which parameters appear on the DMR form and how results are evaluated.

    Determining Whether DMRs Are Created for a Permit

    For nVIRO to produce DMRs, the following conditions must be met:

    • NPDES monitoring requirements and effluent limits have been added to the permit. (The ability to add monitoring requirements is configurable by permit category.)

    • The Generate DMRs checkbox is selected for the applicable limit set.

    • At least one parameter in the limit set qualifies for inclusion on the DMR (for more information, see the next section).

    • The deployment setting codes DMR.GEN_DLY and DMR.GEN_SUMM are not set to “0.” (Deployment settings can be managed by a system administrator.)

    Determining Which Parameters Appear on Daily and Summary DMRs

    For a parameter to appear on a daily DMR form, the following conditions must be met:

    • The Display on Daily DMR Form checkbox is selected for the parameter. (To configure parameters, navigate to Admin > Lookups > Parameters.)

    • The Statistical Base Code reference table indicates that the monitoring requirement’s statistical base code is eligible for display on the daily form. (The Statistical Base Code reference table can be managed by a database administrator.)

    For a parameter to appear on a summary DMR form, the following conditions must be met:

    • The Display on Summary DMR Form checkbox is selected for the parameter.

    • The Monitoring Location Type reference table indicates that the monitoring requirement’s monitoring location is eligible for display on the summary DMR form. (The Monitoring Location Type reference table can be managed by a database administrator.)

    If a parameter is configured to display on daily DMR forms, effluent exceedance violations are evaluated based on the data entered on the daily DMR. Exceedance values are not generated on the summary DMR in this case to prevent double-counting violations across daily and summary forms.

    DMR Statuses

    DMRs can have a status of Unstarted, Draft, Ready to Submit, or Submitted.

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