NC0021890_Electronic Reporting Requirements_20160624

Water Resources
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
June 24, 2016
Jerry Church
Town of Granite Falls
PO Drawer 10
Granite Falls, NC 28630
Subject NPDES Electronic Reporting Requirements
Granite Falls WWTP
NPDES Permit Number NCO021890
Dear NPDES Permittee
PAT MCCRORY
Goi er not
DONALD R VAN DER VAART
Secr etm i
S JAY ZIMMERMAN
Du ectoi
The U S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) Electronic Reporting Rule The rule requires NPDES regulated facilities to
report information electronically, instead of filing written paper reports The rule does not change what
information is required from facilities It only changes the method by which information is provided (i e,
electronic rather than paper-based)
EPA is phasing in the requirements of the rule over a 5 -year period The two phases of the rule, and their
key milestones, are
• Phase 1—Starting on December 21, 2016, regulated entities that are required to submit Discharge
Monitoring Reports (DMRs) will begin submitting these reports electronically If you are currently
reporting your DMR data electronically using eDMR, then you simply need to continue reporting
in the same way as you are now The key change is that, starting on December 21, 2016,
electronic reporting of DMRs will be required, instead of voluntary
• Phase 2—Starting on December 21, 2020, regulated entities that are required to submit certain
other NPDES reports will begin submitting these reports electronically Reports covered in the
second phase include Notices of Intent to discharge in compliance with an NPDES general permit,
Sewer Overflow/Bypass Event Reports, and a number of other NPDES program reports
Incorporating Electronic Reporting Requirements into NPDES Permits
The NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule requires authorized NPDES programs to incorporate electronic
reporting requirements into NPDES permits beginning December 21, 2015 Under the new rule, the
electronic reporting process supersedes the paper reporting process According to our files, your NPDES
permit became effective after November 2013, and should contain the requirement to electronically
report your Discharge Monitoring Reports using NC DWR's eDMR system
In addition to requiring permittees to report information electronically, the rule also requires permittees
to identify the initial recipient for the NPDES electronic reporting data [see 40 CFR 122 41(1)(9)] Initial
State of North Carolina I Environmental Quality I Water Resources
1617 Mail Service Center I Raleigh North Carolina 27699 1617
919 807 6300

recipient of electronic NPDES Information from NPDES-regulated facilities (Initial recipient) means the
entity (EPA or the state authorized by EPA to implement the NPDES program) that is the designated entity
for receiving electronic NPDES Data [see 40 CFR 127 2(b)] Permittees are required to electronically
submit the required NPDES information to the appropriate initial recipient, as determined by EPA By July
18, 2016, EPA must identify and publish on its web site and in the Federal Register a listing of initial
recipients by state and by NPDES data group Once available, you can use EPA's web site to find out or
determine the initial recipient of your electronic submission
NC DWR has submitted a request to EPA to be the initial recipient for the following NPDES data groups
1 Discharge Monitoring Reports,
2 General Permit Reports [Notices of Intent to discharge (NOls), Notices of Termination (NOTs)],
3 Pretreatment Program Reports, and
4 Sewer Overflow/Bypass Event Reports
EPA's web site will also link to the appropriate electronic reporting tool for each type of electronic
submission for each state Instructions on how to access and use the appropriate electronic reporting
tool will be available as well
For more information on EPA's NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule, visit
http //www2 epa Dov/compliance/final-national-pollutant-discharge-elimination-system-npdes-
electronic-reporting-rule For more information on electronic reporting to NC DWR, visit
http //deg nc gov/about/divisions/water-resources/edmr/npdes-electronic-reporting or contact Vanessa
Manuel at 919-807-6392 or via email at Vanessa Manuel@ncdenr gov
Sincerely,
Jeffrey O Povfj-CLQ
for Jay Zimmerman, P G
Cc NPDES File
Central Files
Asheville Regional Office/ Water Quality Program