A Practical Guide to DEP's Electronic Discharge Monitoring Report System: Getting Access, Who Should Submit, PAG-03 Due Dates, and the Mistakes That Cause Violations
You took your stormwater samples, the lab sent back a report, and now the results have to get to Pennsylvania DEP. If your facility is covered under PAG-03 or an individual NPDES permit, that happens through eDMR, DEP's online system for Discharge Monitoring Reports. The short answer is this: each person who'll touch the reports sets up their own Keystone GreenPort account, the facility registers with DEP using a paper registration form and agreement (which can take 30 days or more), and then a designated Certifier submits one DMR per outfall within 28 days after each monitoring period ends. For most PAG-03 facilities, that means July 28 and January 28.
The system itself isn't complicated once you're in. Where facilities get into trouble is everything around it: access that belonged to someone who left the company, nobody owning the deadline, or numbers entered against the wrong outfall or in the wrong units. Below, we'll walk through what eDMR is, how to get set up, who should be the one hitting submit, what a submission includes step by step, and the problems we see most often at Pennsylvania facilities. If you'd rather have someone look over your reporting setup before the next deadline, reach out to RMA and we'll help you sort it out.
Table of Contents
TL;DR
Pennsylvania facilities with PAG-03 or individual NPDES permits report their stormwater sampling results to DEP online through eDMR, which runs inside DEP's Keystone GreenPort website. Every user needs their own account, the facility has to register with DEP using a registration form and a signed agreement, and registration can take a month or more, so start well before your first report is due. Only a Certifier, meaning a responsible official or someone they've formally authorized, can submit, and PAG-03 reports are due 28 days after each six-month monitoring period, so July 28 and January 28 for most facilities. Most problems come from lost access when a Certifier leaves, nobody owning the deadline, and results entered for the wrong outfall or in the wrong units.
What Is eDMR for Pennsylvania Stormwater Reporting?
A Discharge Monitoring Report, or DMR, is the form where a permitted facility reports its sampling results to the agency that issued the permit. If you're new to the concept, our overview of Discharge Monitoring Reports covers the basics. eDMR is simply Pennsylvania DEP's electronic version. Instead of filling out a paper form and mailing it in, you log in, open a report template DEP has already built around your specific permit, type in your results, and submit it.
eDMR lives inside DEP's GreenPort system, which you reach through the state's Keystone login at greenport.pa.gov. DEP builds each facility's report template from its permit, so the outfalls, parameters, units, and sample types you see should line up with what your permit requires. Electronic reporting isn't optional for NPDES permittees in Pennsylvania. It comes from EPA's national electronic reporting rule, and DEP requires it across its NPDES program.
One thing many facility managers don't realize is where the data goes after you hit submit. DEP passes eDMR data to EPA's national compliance database, and from there it shows up publicly on EPA's ECHO website. That means your neighbors, environmental groups, customers, and anyone else with an internet connection can look up your results and see whether your reports came in on time. A late or sloppy DMR isn't just a paperwork issue between you and DEP.
Which Pennsylvania Stormwater Permits Report Through eDMR?
If your facility is covered under the PAG-03 general permit for industrial stormwater, you report through eDMR. The same goes for facilities with an individual NPDES permit for stormwater, and for facilities with wastewater or process water permits. The reporting frequency and the parameters you report depend on your permit, and for PAG-03 they depend on which sector appendix your facility falls under.
Facilities with an approved No Exposure Certification don't sample their stormwater and don't file DMRs, because they aren't covered by a permit with monitoring requirements. If you're not sure which bucket you're in, or what your PAG-03 appendix requires you to sample for, our guide to Pennsylvania's PAG-03 permit and how to take stormwater samples is the place to start. eDMR is only the last step in a process that starts with getting a good sample during a qualifying storm.
How Do You Get Access to PA DEP's eDMR System?
This is the part that can't be done the week before a deadline. DEP's own user guide says eDMR registration can't be completed entirely online and that processing for a new facility can take 30 days or more, depending on DEP's workload. If you just got PAG-03 coverage, or you're taking over reporting for a facility that's never been set up properly, start now.
The process works in this order. First, every person who'll use eDMR creates their own Keystone GreenPort account under their own name and their own email address. DEP allows only one account per email address and doesn't allow shared accounts, so a generic "environmental@company.com" login won't work. After creating the account, each user needs to log in at least once, because DEP can't link an account to your permit until it's been used. Then the facility submits two documents to DEP: the eDMR Permittee Registration Form (3800-FM-BCW0424), which lists your facility and assigns a role to each user, and the eDMR Trading Partner Agreement (3800-FM-BCW0425), which each Certifier signs. Once DEP processes them, you'll get notice and an eDMR button will appear in your GreenPort dashboard.
The registration form is where you assign roles, and there are three of them:
| eDMR Role |
What They Can Do |
Who Usually Fills It |
| Viewer |
See reporting requirements, report status, and submitted data |
Managers or corporate staff who want visibility |
| Preparer |
Everything a Viewer can do, plus enter data, attach files, and save reports. Can't submit. |
The person who handles sampling and lab paperwork, or a consultant |
| Certifier |
Everything a Preparer can do, plus submit reports and add or remove Viewers and Preparers |
A responsible official, or someone they've formally authorized |
DEP requires at least two users per facility, and at least one has to be a Certifier. Once you're registered, a Certifier can add or remove Viewers and Preparers directly in GreenPort without sending anything to DEP. Adding or removing a Certifier is different. That still takes a new registration form and, for a new Certifier, a signed Trading Partner Agreement. DEP says Certifier changes are generally processed within about five business days when everything's filled out correctly. RMA's existing guide to Pennsylvania eDMR registration includes a video walkthrough of the account setup screens if you want to see them before you start.
Who Should Submit Your Facility's Stormwater eDMRs?
Only a Certifier can submit a DMR, and the Certifier's name on the submitted report serves as the legal signature. When they submit, they're certifying under penalty of law that the information is true, accurate, and complete. That's why DEP limits who can hold the role. Under the federal signatory rule at 40 CFR 122.22, a Certifier has to be a responsible corporate officer, a general partner, an owner, or a principal executive officer, or a person that responsible official has formally authorized in writing. That authorized person can be a plant manager, an environmental coordinator, or an outside consultant.
In practice, we recommend at least two Certifiers whenever you can manage it. One is usually a senior person who doesn't do the day-to-day work but signs off on it. The other is the person who's closest to the sampling and the lab reports. A Preparer, often the person who collects samples, can enter all the data and then use the "Send to Certifier" button, which emails the Certifier that the report's ready. That setup gives you a second set of eyes on every report and a backup when someone's on vacation or leaves the company.
Whatever you choose, write it down. Somebody needs to be named as the owner of each deadline, and somebody else needs to be named as the backup. Put both deadlines on a shared calendar with reminders a few weeks out, so there's time to chase a late lab report or call DEP about a template problem before the 28th.
When Are PAG-03 Stormwater eDMRs Due?
Under the current PAG-03 general permit, which took effect March 24, 2023 and runs through March 23, 2028, DMRs are tied to calendar monitoring periods and have to be received by DEP within 28 days after each period ends. Most PAG-03 facilities monitor semiannually, which works out like this:
| Monitoring Period |
eDMR Due Date |
| January 1 through June 30 |
July 28 |
| July 1 through December 31 |
January 28 |
Two details trip people up. First, the permit says these dates apply unless your sector-specific appendix states otherwise, so read your appendix and your approval letter rather than assuming. Second, a separate DMR is required for each representative outfall, so a facility with three sampled outfalls has three sets of results to get right each period. Individual NPDES permits set their own schedules, which can be monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual depending on the permit, but DEP uses the same 28-day rule across its NPDES permits.
The DMR is also separate from the PAG-03 annual report. Under the current permit, the annual report and the annual fee installment are due March 23 each year, and the annual report covers inspections, sampling, and corrective actions for the prior calendar year. Submit it the way your permit and DEP's current instructions direct. Filing your DMRs on time doesn't take care of the annual report, and the annual report doesn't take care of your DMRs.
What Goes Into a PA eDMR Stormwater Submission?
When a new monitoring period opens, eDMR emails everyone linked to the facility that a new report is available. From there, a typical stormwater submission looks like this:
- Log in on a computer. DEP says eDMR doesn't work properly on phones or tablets and recommends Chrome or Edge. Open the eDMR application from your GreenPort dashboard and click into your facility's open reports.
- Check the report against your permit. Before typing anything, confirm the outfalls, parameters, units, and sample types match your permit. If they don't, call DEP's help desk before you submit, because a submitted report can't be deleted.
- Pick the outfall. Each report is organized by sampling point (your outfall) and stage. Select the right one from the dropdown before entering results.
- Enter each result. Type the lab value for each parameter in the unit the screen shows. For non-detects, use the less-than qualifier with the lab's reporting limit. Grayed-out fields aren't required.
- Use No Discharge or a NODI code only when it fits. More on this below, because the wrong choice can create a violation.
- Attach your lab report. DEP calls lab reports optional but strongly recommended. Your first DMR after new or renewed coverage, and any DMR after you change labs or methods, also needs DEP's Lab Accreditation supplemental form.
- Explain any non-compliance. eDMR automatically flags some problems from the numbers you entered, and you'll have to fill in what happened and what you're doing about it.
- Submit or send to the Certifier. A Preparer clicks "Send to Certifier." A Certifier reads the certification statement, checks the box, and submits.
- Look for the confirmation email. eDMR sends a confirmation to everyone on the facility's account. DEP's guide says that if you don't get it (check spam), the report probably wasn't submitted.
The "No Discharge" box and NODI codes deserve extra attention. "No Discharge" is only for an outfall that had no flow at all during the entire monitoring period. It isn't for an outfall that discharged but you didn't get a sample. That situation calls for NODI code E (no sample or analysis), which DEP counts as a violation and requires a comment to explain. Code GG covers conditional monitoring that wasn't triggered and non-representative outfalls, and it doesn't count as a violation. Code FF is a catch-all for other situations, also counts as a violation, and shouldn't be used when E or GG applies. Our article on reporting NODI when you don't get a stormwater sample goes deeper on this, and if your numbers came back above a benchmark, read whether you have to report bad stormwater results (you do) before you submit.
If you catch a mistake after submitting, you can revise the report from the "View or Revise Submitted Reports" tab. Pick the right revision reason, make the change, and have a Certifier submit the revision. Every version stays on record.
Common PA eDMR Stormwater Reporting Problems and How to Avoid Them
Most of the eDMR trouble we see isn't about the software. It's about people, handoffs, and small data entry errors that turn into compliance problems. Here are the ones that come up most:
| Problem |
What Happens |
How to Prevent It |
| The only Certifier left the company |
Nobody can submit, and adding a new Certifier takes paperwork and processing time |
Keep at least two Certifiers and update DEP as soon as someone leaves |
| Nobody owns the deadline |
The report goes late and DEP's system logs it automatically |
Name an owner and a backup, with calendar reminders weeks ahead |
| Results entered under the wrong outfall |
One outfall looks clean, another looks like it was never sampled or exceeded |
Label sample bottles and chain of custody with the permit's outfall numbers |
| Wrong units |
A result in µg/L entered where eDMR expects mg/L reads 1,000 times too high |
Compare the lab's units to the units next to each eDMR field before saving |
| "No Discharge" used when there was flow |
You've certified something that isn't true |
Use NODI code E with a comment when you missed a sample |
| Duplicate reports after a renewal or transfer |
eDMR regenerates reports under the new permit, and the old one sits unsubmitted |
Fill out the newest version and call the help desk about the old one |
The Certifier problem is the most common one we run into. Access gets set up once, the person who set it up moves on, and nobody thinks about eDMR again until a report is due and nobody can log in. Since DEP counts on the permittee to keep its own user access current, a missing Certifier won't excuse a late report. If you're inheriting a facility through a sale or a permit transfer, check eDMR access in the first week.
Lab-side problems show up here too. If the lab reports a value in different units, uses a reporting limit that's too high, or skips a parameter, you'll find out when you try to enter it. Our articles on reading confusing NPDES lab results and what happens if your lab forgets to test a parameter cover how to handle both.
If eDMR itself is down or a report is missing near the deadline, call DEP's help desk at 717-787-HELP (4357), weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. DEP's contingency plan says that if you can't submit on time electronically, you can email the report to the NPDES inbox for the regional office that issued your permit before the due date, then submit it through eDMR within five calendar days once the problem's fixed. Late or inaccurate reports are also one of the first things DEP looks at during an inspection, which our article on what happens during a PA DEP stormwater inspection covers in more detail.
How RMA Helps With PA eDMR and Stormwater Reporting
Plenty of facilities handle eDMR on their own without any trouble, and if your setup is solid, your roles are current, and someone owns the deadlines, you may not need us for this piece. Where we help is when the reporting has slipped, the person who knew how to do it is gone, or results keep coming back in a way that raises questions. We can help get your eDMR access straightened out, review your PAG-03 or individual permit so you know exactly what you're reporting and when, check lab results against your permit before they go in, serve as a Preparer or authorized Certifier if that's the right fit, and help with the sampling, inspections, and annual reports that feed into it. If your team needs to get up to speed on its stormwater responsibilities, our online environmental training library is another option.
There's no pressure and no obligation. Give us a call, send an email, or fill out the form on our website, tell us what's happening at your facility, and we'll give you a straight answer about what it needs. If you're ready to talk, contact RMA here and we'll take it from there.
