NJPDES Program to Introduce Electronic Monitoring Report Forms by Julio Collazo, Bureau of Permit Management

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is coming to the Division of Water Quality. The division is about to pilot test their New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) EDI application. Participants will be able to submit all of their Monitoring Report Forms (MRFs) electronically via the Internet.

If you currently transfer information electronically for another program within the DEP, you are probably accessing the application from NJDEP On-Line. The NJPDES EDI application will also be available through the NJDEP On-Line web portal at: https://www.njdeponline.com. However, only those participants involved in the pilot program will have access to the application at this time. The division expects to pilot test the program for a period of three months beginning with the July 2002 monitoring period. An assessment of the program and its functionality will be conducted during the first week of September 2002. The division intends to offer this program to all permittees immediately after this assessment.

In March 2001, the DEP, along with their consultants American Management Systems (AMS), presented the EDI concept to invited stakeholders who had expressed an interest in submitting their MRFs electronically. It was agreed that the MRF would be designed to utilize a Microsoft Excel '97 based template. Based on this initial design, the comments received at the 2001 concept presentation, and an additional presentation in March 2002, the DEP and AMS developed an EDI application. The application is based on web technology using the current manual MRF submission process. The result is one of the first "real" electronic applications available for the transfer of NPDES Discharge Monitoring Report data in the nation.

Permittees will apply for NJPDES EDI access through the web portal. A NJPDES EDI Agreement specifying the conditions for participation must be completed and signed by the organization's responsible official before access is granted. Once the division receives the form and approves it, the permittee will have the ability to access the NJPDES EDI program and download their MRFs on-line.

Along with access to the EDI application, the permittee will be granted Facility Administrator security rights. This feature gives the permittee the utmost control in who can access their MRFs. Facility Administrator security rights will allow the permittee to decide the type of access an authorized user could be given. There will be two other levels of security access: General Access, and Responsible Official Access. With General Access an individual will be able to download a MRF, complete it, validate it, and resubmit it to DEP via a web portal upload. General Access could be given to an individual at a laboratory who currently fills out the MRFs manually. Responsible Official Access allows an individual, designated by the permittee, to certify (i.e., electronically sign) a MRF on-line. This access could be given to a duly authorized representative or could be restricted to just the permittee.

The NJPDES EDI application will use email to communicate certain events. Depending on the event that is triggered in the application, an e-mail may be generated for: the availability of a MRF to download, the certification of a MRF, the deletion of a MRF, the request for access to the application from an interested party, and to advise the responsible official when a MRF has been certified. Upon the successful completion of the pilot program, the division expects to make the application available to all permittees and to conduct several informational meetings to introduce NJPDES EDI to interested permittees.

If you have any questions concerning the NJPDES EDI application please contact Debbie Esposti, Bureau of Permit Management, at (609) 984-4428.