Environmental Programs: Summary Report on the Joint Audit of DoD Wastewater Treatment Systems

Abstract

Abstract : The Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment), formerly, the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Environmental Security), requested that the Inspector General, DoD; Army Audit Agency; Naval Audit Service; and Air Force Audit Agency perform a joint audit to determine whether the Services and the Defense Logistics Agency were reporting correct Clean Water Act information and how well the Services and the Defense Logistics Agency were managing their resources for wastewater treatment systems. The Clean Water Act requires all facilities that discharge wastewater to the waters of the U.S., including Federal facilities, to have permits that establish pollution limits and specify monitoring and reporting requirements. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, which are issued either by the Protection Agency or by a state having permitting authority from the Protection Agency, regulate pollutants discharged into surface waters by industrial, municipal, and other facilities. DoD Instruction 4715.6, Environmental Compliance, established a measure of merit for gauging DoD compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits in accordance with the Clean Water Act. The joint audit resulted in separate Service audit agency reports on each respective Service and an Inspector General, DoD, report on the Defense Logistics Agency. This report summarizes the following systemic issues from those reports: Clean Water Act information reporting at the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Defense Logistics Agency and Clean Water Act measure of merit definitions.