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Glossary

Plain-language definitions of the EPA environmental terms used across EcoCheckUSA.

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
An annual EPA program in which larger industrial facilities must report how much of several hundred listed toxic chemicals they release to air, water and land, or send off-site. It measures reported quantities, not exposure or health outcomes, and does not cover every facility or every chemical.
TRI facility
A specific industrial site that meets the TRI reporting thresholds (enough employees and enough of a listed chemical manufactured, processed or used). A facility being listed means it reports under the program — it is not by itself a finding of wrongdoing or hazard.
ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online)
EPA's public database of inspections, violations and enforcement actions across the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and other statutes. The compliance status and penalty figures shown on this site come from ECHO.
Compliance status
ECHO's summary of where a facility stands with environmental regulations — for example "in compliance", "significant violation", or "high priority violation". It reflects EPA's own categorisation at the time of the data extract.
Significant non-compliance (SNC)
EPA's designation for the most serious Clean Water Act violations — large or chronic exceedances of permit limits, or failure to report. A related term under the Clean Air Act is "high priority violation".
Penalty assessed
A monetary amount an environmental agency has formally assessed against a facility through an enforcement action. "Assessed" is not the same as "paid", and many enforcement actions are resolved without a penalty.
Superfund (SEMS / National Priorities List)
The federal program for cleaning up the most contaminated land in the country. The National Priorities List (NPL) is the roster of sites eligible for long-term federal cleanup money; SEMS is the tracking system behind it.
NPL status
Where a Superfund site sits in the process: proposed for the list, final (on the list), deleted (cleanup goals met), or other administrative categories. A "deleted" site has completed cleanup, not been abandoned.
Community water system (CWS)
A public water system that serves the same people year-round — the utility that pipes water to homes in a town or city. SDWIS also tracks non-community systems (schools, campgrounds), but this site's drinking-water pages cover active community water systems.
SDWIS (Safe Drinking Water Information System)
EPA's national database of public water systems and their monitoring, violations and enforcement under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The drinking-water pages here are built from the SDWIS public download files.
Health-based violation
A drinking-water violation where the level of a contaminant exceeded a safety standard (an MCL or MRDL), or a required treatment technique was not followed. It is more serious than a monitoring or reporting violation, which means the system failed to test or report on time.
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL)
The legal ceiling on how much of a specific contaminant is allowed in drinking water delivered to customers, set by EPA to protect health with a margin of safety. MRDL is the equivalent limit for disinfectants such as chlorine.
Treatment technique (TT)
A required process a water system must carry out when it is not feasible to measure a contaminant directly at the tap — for example the filtration and disinfection rules for surface water. Failing to perform it is a health-based violation.
PWSID (Public Water System ID)
The unique identifier EPA assigns to each public water system, usually the two-letter state code followed by seven digits. It is how a system's violations, service area and enforcement records are tied together.
Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility
A facility that handles large quantities of certain hazardous chemicals and must file a plan with EPA describing accident risks and prevention. Not all TRI facilities are RMP facilities and vice versa.

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