California Environmental Reporting System (CERS)

The purpose of this guidance letter is to outline the importance of reissuing United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Technical Compliance Rate (TCR) violations during the subsequent annual underground storage tank (UST) compliance inspection if the violation remains uncorrected. U.S. EPA TCR performance measures are submitted by Unified Program Agencies (UPAs) to the State Water Resources Control Board on a semiannual bases as part of the Report 6.

If a facility receives a TCR criteria violation during an annual compliance inspection and the issue remains uncorrected during the next annual UST compliance inspection, the inspector must reissue the same violation. Failure to do so will result in the violation not being captured in the Report 6 data for that reporting period. This omission leads to inaccurate TCR submittals in Report 6, which are required under the Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005. Accurate reporting is critical, as the Federal Energy Policy Act is a key component in securing federal grant funding for California's UST program.

Question: As an inspector, do I need to reissue uncorrected violations for all CUPA programs?

Answer: Currently, this guidance document only applies to the UST program. For all other CUPA programs, please refer to the CalEPA CERS guidance document titled "Reporting Escalated Violations in CERS".

Question: How should uncorrected violations be reissued in CERS?

Answer: The CUPA should reissue uncorrected violations during the following year's annual UST compliance inspection and reissue the violation using the same violation type number. The CUPA should change the violation classification, as needed, at this time.

Note: U.S. EPA TCR performance measures only include TCR violations issued during "Routine Inspections" recorded in CERS. Report 6, along with TCR performance measures, represents a snapshot in time. If the CUPA does not record the violation during the routine inspection submitted as part of their Report 6 data, it will not be included in the TCR score.

Question: As a CUPA, I'm concerned about my Return to Compliance (RTC) rate. If I keep reissuing a violation that remains uncorrected, won't it negatively affect my evaluation?

Answer: The State Water Board Evaluation Staff no longer considers Return to Compliance (RTC) rate alone when issuing Deficiencies or Incidental Findings. The State Water Board does not believe that RTC on its own is a strong indicator of a CUPA's ability to bring facilities into compliance - particularly since some UST violations may require plan check permits and construction that take extended periods of time to resolve.

Instead, the Evaluation Staff assesses a number of factors alongside RTC data, including the types of violation issued, TCR data, enforcement data, and various other components. For more information on how the evaluation team assesses RTC during evaluation, please refer to our "Return to Compliance" webpage.

Question: Should the inspector use the "Not Resolvable" qualifier when reissuing uncorrected violations?

Answer: No. The "Not Resolvable" qualifier should be used only in situations where it is truly not possible to return to the point in time when the violation occurred. This does not apply to any missed testing or failures related to leak detection equipment, as these violations are resolvable. Currently, the Evaluation Staff is documenting improper use of the "Not Resolvable" qualifier as an observation during evaluations. A formal definition of "Not Resolvable" is expected to be included in an upcoming amendment to the Title 27 Data Dictionary; therefore, CUPAs should evaluate their current use of the qualifier.

Question: Should the inspector escalate the violation when reissuing it?

Answer: This guidance document addresses only the reissuance of violations that remain uncorrected. Currently, UST regulations do not explicitly address the classification or escalation of violations, however these will be included in the proposed Chapter 16 rewrite expected to be effective January 1, 2026. Inspectors should refer to their CUPA's Inspection and Enforcement (I&E) Plan for guidance on violation escalation.

Question: If a TCR violation was first issued during an annual UST compliance inspection, (CERS: Routine Inspection) and then reissued during a follow-up or reinspection (CERS: Other Inspection), should the inspector reissue it again at the next annual UST compliance inspection if violation has not been corrected?

Answer: Yes, if the violation has not been corrected, it must be reissued during the annual UST compliance inspection. As stated earlier, TCR performance measures only include violations issued during "Routine Inspections" recorded in CERS.

Note: UST facilities should have only one "Routine Inspection" recorded in CERS per year. It is rare for a facility to have more than one. If an annual UST compliance inspection spans multiple days, please refer to our CERS FAQ titled "How to Report Multi-Day Inspections in CERS".