Vision

Substance Registry Services supports the discovery and re-use of quality substance information at EPA.

Through its role in the management of substance identification, the SRS is instrumental in EPA’s efforts to streamline and integrate its information management processes, from data collection to storage to reporting.


Improving Incoming Data

The EPA’s state and tribal partners submit most of the environmental data collected by EPA programs. Industrial facilities and individuals also submit environmental data.

This variety of sources opens the possibility for substance identification errors. Misspelled, ambiguous, or inaccurate names can make the accompanying emissions or discharge data less useful. Through SRS, these EPA partners can ensure that substance identification information is high quality before they submit the environmental data to EPA.

To enable this effort, EPA has web-based tools to let its partners retrieve SRS data. EPA is working to expand the universe of partners who use these tools so that more of the incoming data is of high quality.


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Helping EPA Programs

Through data quality and standardization work, SRS maintains the most current identification information about substances. EPA programs use the SRS to identify the standard substance names to use in their systems. EPA programs also can retrieve this information electronically for incorporation into their own systems. Several EPA programs will require their partner organizations, when submitting environmental data electronically, to use only the EPA standard substance names; otherwise the incoming data will be rejected.

A long-term goal for EPA is to utilize data across programs to generate a more comprehensive picture of environmental conditions. As the authoritative source for substance identification at the EPA, SRS enables scientists and other researchers to quickly and easily map substance information across different programs.


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Improving Outreach

EPA wants to improve the public’s access and understanding of environmental data. SRS can help in achieving this goal. By using electronic tools, EPA programs, partners, and external organizations, can create direct links from their Internet sites to the relevant substance records in SRS thus providing quick, basic information about those substances.

Finally, SRS will extend its reach to other federal agencies, either storing their substance identification information or creating links with other federal substance registries. The result will be the ability to go to SRS to discover substance information across the federal government.


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