Collection Rule Query Form User's Guide

The Information Collection Rule (ICR) requires data collection on disease-causing microbes (pathogens), fecal contaminants (total coliform, fecal coliform, or E. Coli), disinfection byproducts, drinking water sources, and drinking water treatment plants. This information is used to help assess the potential health effects of pathogens and disinfection byproducts, and provide decision-makers with the information necessary to support regulatory and public health decisions. You can use the ICR query form to retrieve disinfection byproducts and microbial reports at the national, state, and utility levels.

This is a brief user's guide to the ICR Query Form. Use the ICR Feedback Form to send us additional queries or suggestions that you would find useful.

National Level Reports:

For reports at the national level, click on the report name.

Microbial reports are available on the following topics: Cryptosporidium, Giardia, viruses, total coliform, fecal coliform, or E. Coli. To view one of these reports, click on the report name. Reports at the national level are organized chronologically; click on the desired month in the resulting window to view the information for that month.

Disinfection byproduct reports are available on the following topics: trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, bromate, and chlorite. To view one of these reports, click on the report name. Reports at the national level are organized chronologically; click on the desired month in the resulting window to view the information for that month.

National Level Report Output:

National reports contain graphic representations of disinfection byproduct and microbial levels for a particular month.

For microbials, charts or tables are available for the percentage of treatment plants reporting positive occurrences of a specific microbial, the national level of a specific microbial reported per month, and a table showing the levels of actual microbials per water treatment plant nationwide.

For disinfection byproducts, charts or tables are available for the national treated ground and surface water levels of a specific disinfection byproduct. In addition, a table displays the national ground water levels of the disinfection byproduct.

State Level Reports:

To select a state in which to search, click on that state or territory within the map provided or on the text link for that state or territory below the map. Links for EPA-regulated territories outside the scope of the map are also provided. Please note: several states (and two U.S. territories) did not participate in the ICR (Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, the Virgin Islands, and Guam).

Microbial reports are available on the following topics: Cryptosporidium, Giardia, viruses, Total Coliform, Fecal Coliform, or E. Coli. To view one of these reports, click on the report name. Reports at the state level are organized chronologically; click on the desired month in the resulting window to view the information for that month.

Disinfection byproduct reports are available on the following topics: trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, bromate, and chlorite. To view one of these reports, click on the report name. Reports at the state level are organized chronologically; click on the desired month in the resulting window to view the information for that month.

State Level Report Output:

State reports contain graphic and tabular representations of the levels of disinfection byproducts or microbials in the state or U.S territory. Please note: several states (and two U.S. territories) did not participate in the ICR (Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, the Virgin Islands, and Guam).

For microbials, charts or tables are available for the percentage of treatment plants reporting positive occurrences of a specific microbial in the state, the state level of a specific microbial reported per month, and a table showing the levels of actual microbials per water treatment plant statewide. Users can also determine how the state's source water compares to source waters nationally for that microbial by viewing the national data for the same month.

Utility Level Reports:

To select a utility, users must first click on the state or territory in which that utility exists, or on the text link for that state or territory below the map. Links for EPA-regulated territories outside the scope of the map are provided as well. Once a geographical area is selected, users can search for information at the state or utility level. Please note: several states (and two U.S. territories) did not participate in the ICR (Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, the Virgin Islands, and Guam).

Once a state or territory has been selected, a list of utilities in that area that participate in the Information Collection Rule will be displayed. These utiliites are organized by Water System Name and Water System ID. To view the information for a specific utility, click on the water system name. This query will provide information about the utility in tablular format.

Utility Report Output

The query output, organized quarterly and monthly, provides information about the disinfection byproducts and the microbials found in various locations in public water systems. This information is provided in tabular format. Quarterly reports are available for disinfection byproduct samples, and monthly reports are available for microbials.

Disinfection Byproducts Sampled Quarterly:

Disinfection Byproducts Sampled Monthly:

Microbials Sampled Monthly:

Usage Constraints

Information in the ICR database can be freely accessed through the use of this query. This database is a repository for water quality data collected on disease-causing microbes (pathogens), fecal contaminants (Total Coliform, Fecal Coliform, or E. coli), disinfection byproducts, drinking water sources, and drinking water treatment plants.

Queries that return a large volume of data may terminate prematurely due to system limitations. The constraints established for the enviro user account (the query uses this to connect to the ORACLE database) are:

Each query is limited to 2.5 minutes of Central Processing Unit (CPU) time.
A single session can be 15 minutes in duration.
A session may stay idle for 7.5 minutes, at which time it will be terminated.

Develop queries that return small batches of data and terminate the session as soon as your queries have been executed, so others can access the database.