Inspection Frequency Review

The State Water Board evaluation staff will conduct a review of annual UST compliance inspections performed over the last three years. They will utilize the "Routine Inspection Frequency Search" report available in CERS, capable of displaying complete past years or current year progress. This report identifies facilities with an annual compliance inspection entered as "Routine", has at least one accepted UST submittal, and where the UST element is set to "applicable". The evaluation will focus on the most recent three complete years that do not overlap with the previous evaluation period.

How to Obtain and set up the report from CERS

1. Log into CERS and go to Reports

Screen shot of the CERS Regulator home page with a red arrow pointing to 'Reports' in the top navigation menu, highlighted by a red circle.

2. Select UST Routine Inspection Frequency Search

Screenshot of the CERS Regulator Reports page with a red arrow pointing to the 'UST Routine Inspection Frequency Search' in the UST Program Reports section, highlighted by a red circle.

3. Ensure that the selected Year is correct, then choose the jurisdiction from the Regular. Select Search and a list of facilities should generate below.

Screenshot of the UST Routine Inspection Frequency page with a red arrow pointing to 'Year', 'Regulator' and 'Search', which are all highlighted by a red circle.

4. Select Export to Excel and an Excel document will be downloaded to your computer.

Screenshot of the UST Routine Inspection Frequency page with a red arrow pointing to 'Export to Excel' and highlighted by a red circle.nk and Monitoring Plan Info' tab, highlighted by a red circle" />

5. Open the Excel document and select row 8 (highlight entire row), go to the Data tab at the top, and then select Filter. You should now see a drop-down arrow (for filtering) in each of the columns.

Screenshot of the 'UST Routine Inspection Frequency' excel document with a red arrow pointing to 'Data ribbon tab' at the top, and 'Filter' function, both highlighted by a red circle.

6. Find column M (USTLastRoutineInspectionDate) and Sort Oldest to Newest.

Screenshot of the 'UST Routine Inspection Frequency' excel document with a red arrow pointing to 'Sort Oldest to newest' for filtering data in column M.

Facilities do not have an inspection completed within the report's year may be included in the summary of findings.

Routine Inspection Data in CERS

Confirmation that each UST facility has only received one Routine inspection can be found in the "Inspection Summary Report by Regulator (Report 6)". If a facility has received more than one Routine inspection in CERS, the tally of routine inspections will be higher than the number of facilities. Evaluation staff will review this report for instances of repeat Routine inspections. This report also serves as an additional resource when reviewing Technical Compliance Rate annually, the CUPA can refer to the "Inspection Summary Report by Regulator (Report 6)" in CERS. This report confirms whether a facility has received more than one Routine inspection; if so, the tally of inspections will exceed the number of facilities. Evaluation staff will review this report to identify instances of duplicate Routine inspections. Additionally, this report serves as a valuable resource for assessing the Technical Compliance Rate during evaluations.

Note: Recording two routine inspections on the same Report 6 can provide inaccurate TCR values. View information on how the UPA can ensure that the CERS-generated Report 6 provides current and accurate data.

To prepare for the CUPA Evaluation, staff should ensure all UST facilities have had one Routine inspection per year or note why a second Routine inspection was performed in the same year. Further inspections within the same calendar year must be classified as Other. In the uncommon event a Routine inspection was moved forward, resulting in two Routines conducted in the same calendar year, inspectors should make note of this in CERS and in the Report 6. View additional guidance on how inspections should be reported to CERS.

UST Inspection Frequency Statute Code Sections:

  • HSC, Chapter 6.7, 25288(a)