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Get AOC LLC discharge monitoring report data from FDEP OCULUS

Source: R/util_ps_getaoc.R
util_ps_getaoc.Rd

Downloads and parses monthly Part A Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) PDFs for the AOC LLC industrial wastewater facility (NPDES permit FL0029653, Polk County, FL) from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) OCULUS public document management system. Returns Average Daily Flow and Total Nitrogen concentration for each available monitoring month.

Usage

util_ps_getaoc(yr, search_xlsx, pdf_dir = NULL, out_file = NULL, quiet = FALSE)

Arguments

yr

numeric (length 1), the monitoring year to retrieve (e.g., 2025).

search_xlsx

character, path to an OCULUS search-results spreadsheet for facility FL0029653. See Details for instructions on generating this file.

pdf_dir

character or NULL. Directory in which to save the downloaded PDFs. If NULL (default), a temporary directory is used and all PDFs are deleted when the function exits. If a path is supplied, PDFs are retained there.

out_file

character or NULL. If provided, the results data frame is written to this path as an .xlsx workbook.

quiet

logical. Suppress progress messages (default FALSE).

Value

A data frame with one row per available monitoring month, sorted by month. Calendar months for which no Part A document was found are omitted (a message is printed when quiet = FALSE). Columns:

ColumnTypeDescription
yrintegerMonitoring year (from the PDF monitoring period).
mointegerCalendar month (1–12, from the PDF monitoring period).
adf_mgdnumericAverage Daily Flow (MGD). 0 indicates no discharge (NOD).
tn_mglnumericTotal nitrogen grab-sample concentration (mg/L). NA when no discharge or not reported.

Details

Generating the OCULUS search spreadsheet

The search_xlsx file is an Excel export from the FDEP OCULUS public document portal. To generate it:

  1. Navigate to https://depedms.dep.state.fl.us in a web browser.

  2. Click Public Oculus Login (no account required).

  3. In the search form, set:

    • Catalog: Wastewater

    • Profile: Sampling

    • Facility-Site ID: FL0029653 (this does not go in the Permit Number field)

    • Document Date: From MM-DD-YYYY to MM-DD-YYYY (covering the desired monitoring year)

    • Document Type: Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR)

  4. Run the search and export the results to Excel (use the Export to Excel button).

  5. Save the exported .xlsx file and pass its path as search_xlsx.

The file must contain HYPERLINK() formulas in column A pointing to the individual DMR PDFs and document subject lines in column K. Both are present in any standard OCULUS search export.

Document selection

The function keeps only monthly (MO) Part A documents for the requested year. Annual summary (YR), Part B daily tables, and other document types are excluded automatically. If a month has multiple submissions (e.g., a revision), the most recently filed document is used.

Reporting period vs. OCULUS label

For some facilities the OCULUS cycle label (e.g., "JAN MO") may not align with the calendar month of the monitoring period. The month returned in the output is always derived from the monitoring period dates inside the PDF, not from the OCULUS label.

No Discharge (NOD)

When the facility reports No Observable Discharge, adf_mgd is set to 0 and tn_mgl is set to NA. A zero flow value therefore implies no discharge for that month.

Parameters not currently monitored

Total phosphorus (TP), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and total suspended solids (TSS) have not been recorded at this facility in recent years and are not included in the output.

Verifying results

On the initial run, supply a pdf_dir path so the downloaded PDFs are retained for inspection. Verify that the monitoring months, flow values, and TN concentrations in the output data frame match those in the PDFs.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Retrieve 2025 AOC DMR data
# (requires an OCULUS search spreadsheet generated as described in Details)
df <- util_ps_getaoc(
  yr          = 2025,
  search_xlsx = "AOC_OCULUSSearchData_2025.xlsx"
)

# Keep PDFs and save results to Excel
df <- util_ps_getaoc(
  yr          = 2025,
  search_xlsx = "AOC_OCULUSSearchData_2025.xlsx",
  pdf_dir     = "~/Desktop/AOC_DMR_2025",
  out_file    = "~/Desktop/AOC_DMR_2025_results.xlsx"
)
} # }