IDDE complaint tracking software for MS4 programs.

One record per complaint, with the reporter info, the location, the first field check, and the follow-up tasks all linked together. The kind of intake-to-closure trail an MCM 3 reviewer can actually read, instead of an email thread and a folder of photos.

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01 · The shape of a complaint workflow

A call comes in. The question is whether the rest of the work follows it.

A stormwater complaint usually starts with a phone call, an email, or a walk-up at the public works counter. Someone saw something. A petroleum sheen on a creek. Soapy water running into a storm drain behind a car wash. A dumpster leaking out the back of a restaurant. Sediment running off a construction site. A neighbor saying their floor drain might be connected to the wrong place.

The work that follows is not complicated, but it has to stay connected. Someone needs to log what was reported. A field inspector needs to go look and capture what they see. A coordinator needs to know whether it was eliminated at source, escalated, or referred. A future annual report reviewer should be able to read the whole chain from a single record.

The hard part is rarely the work. The hard part is keeping the call, the field observation, the photos, the source tracing, and the closure note all attached to each other.

02 · The intake record

What gets captured the moment a complaint comes in.

Intake is the easiest place to lose information. The person on the phone gives more detail than you can write down. The address is approximate. The photos arrive in a follow-up email. NPDESTracker structures intake so the caller's words are captured at the time of the call, the address is pinned on the map, photos can be attached as soon as they arrive, and the next step is assigned with a target response window.

On every intake record

Date and time the complaint came in
How the call arrived: phone, email, online form, walk-up, agency referral, or staff observation
Reporter name and contact details when provided, with anonymous reports clearly marked
Reported address or location, with a coordinate pin where the caller can describe one
Initial classification: petroleum sheen, sediment, wash water, sanitary-looking, dumpster leak, illegal dumping, other
What the reporter saw, in their own words, captured at the time of the call
Initial photos or attachments the reporter sent in
Assigned staff member and target response window for first field check

03 · Field and follow-up

The first field check stays attached to the original complaint.

The first field check is where complaint intake becomes IDDE casework. An inspector goes out, looks at the conditions, captures photos and GPS, runs the indicator panel where the situation calls for it, and writes up what they saw. NPDESTracker keeps that work attached to the complaint record so a future reader can see the call, the field check, and the follow-up steps in one place.

On the follow-up side

First field-check date, time, and inspector name
Field observations with photos and GPS captured on the inspection
Indicator panel and any sample readings, attached to the incident
Suspected source and the steps taken to confirm or rule it out
Property contact made and the date of contact
Tasks created for re-inspection, source tracing, or enforcement follow-up
Closure status: eliminated at source, resolved by responsible party, referred, or unfounded
Final write-up linked to the supporting records

04 · Open vs. resolved, on one view

A coordinator can see what is still open.

Some complaints close out the same week. Others run for weeks: a second field visit, a property contact, a referral, a re-inspection. The thing a coordinator wants to know on a Monday morning is which ones are still open and what is overdue. NPDESTracker shows open complaints with their last activity, target response window, and current assignee on one view.

Closed complaints stay on the timeline of the address and the outfall they were associated with. The next time a complaint comes in on the same outfall, the history is one click away.

05 · Feeds MCM 3 annual reporting

Complaint records become the MCM 3 narrative.

Counts of complaints received, complaints investigated, illicit discharges identified, illicit discharges eliminated, and response times all come from the records, not from a number a coordinator types in. The full annual reporting story is on the reporting page, and the broader IDDE workspace is on the IDDE tracking software page.

Inside the annual report workspace, Smart Draft is an assistive drafting feature that pulls from the linked complaint and investigation records to help start a narrative answer. A coordinator reads the draft, confirms the totals, edits anything that needs judgment, and saves the final language. Smart Draft does not submit, certify, lock, or replace staff review.

NPDESTracker does not submit annual reports to any state or federal agency. The submission step stays with the human at the agency, on the agency's submission channel.

06 · Honest scope

What this does, and what it does not do.

NPDESTracker is a record-keeping workspace. It is not an emergency dispatch system, a 24/7 hotline, or a public-safety response platform. It does not page on-call staff, escalate to 911, or carry legal enforcement authority on its own. Programs use it to keep their complaint, investigation, and follow-up records aligned to the permit.

Enforcement decisions stay with the program. NPDESTracker holds the records of notices of violation, compliance orders, and resolutions, but the decision to issue, the legal authority to enforce, and the agency response stay with the program and its legal counsel. NPDESTracker does not promise compliance.

See the complaint workspace on sample data.

The demo is browse-only with sample records. The Founder Pilot runs it on your own program for 90 days.

Try the demo Or read about the Founder Pilot