ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January

5,

1989

IN THE MATTER OF:

AMENDMENT TO

35

 ILL.

 ADM.

 CODE

)

 R88-22

SECTION 304.301, EXCEPTION FOR

)

AMMONIA NITROGEN WATER QUALITY

)

VIOLATIONS

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

 SECOND NOTICE.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

 (by R.

C.

 Flemal):

On July

 11, 1988

 the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency (“Agency”)

 filed a public comment

in

 a separate

proceeding,

 R88—l.

 Therein

 the Agency proposed

 that 35

 Ill. Adm.

Code Section 304.301(d)

 be amended

 to extend the termination date

for

 the exception

 for ammonia water quality violations

 from July

1,

1988

 to July

1,

 1991.

In the belief that

 the subject matter of

 the Agency’s

proposal

 is more

properly considered

in

 a dedicated docket,

the

Board

 in its Augu~t18, 1988 Opinion and Order, docketed the

Agency’s proposal4 within the

 instant proceeding

 and sent the

proposal

 to first notice.

 In so doing, the Board

 took no

position on the substantive merits of

 the Agency’s proposal

at

that time.

 First

 notice publication occurred

 in the Illinois

Register Vol.

12,

 Issue

 38, September

 16, 1988,

 pp. 14509—14514.

Hearings were held on October

27,

1988

 in Springfield, and

November

4,

1988

 in DeKalb;

 no members of the public were

in

attendance.

 Testimony was presented by the Agency, the Illinois

Department

 of Energy

 and Natural Resources(”DENR”),

 and Mr. James

L. Daugherty on behalf of the Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District

and the Illinois Association of Sanitary Districts (“IASD”).

Comments subsequent

 to first notice publication were received

from the Agency, DENR,

 the Downers Grove Sanitary District, and

Springfield Metro Sanitary District.

 The comments received from

DENR were filed late with an accompanying motion

 to file

instanter.

 That motion

 is granted.

1 The Board

 notes that the caption of

 the rulemaking was

incorrect at

 first notice and

 is now corrected.

 The last word

in

the title

 to Section 304.301

 is “violations”

 not “standards”.

2 The document wherein the Agency’s proposal

 is presented, Public

Comment #3

 of Board Docket R88—l, was incorporated

 into the

instant docket as

 the Agency’s Proposal at first notice.

95—24 1

—2—

On December

5,

 DENR determined that

 a formal Economic Impact

Study was not required

 in this matter,

 finding that the economic

impact of the regulation would be difficult to measure such that

a formal study would not generate useful information.

The

Economic and Technical Advisory Committee concurred

 in this

determination on December

15,

 1988.

 On October

4,

 1988,

the

Department of Commerce and Community Affairs filed

 its Impact

Analysis which indicated that there would

 be no economic effect

on small businesses from the proposed

 rulemaking.

Today the Board

 sends the proposed rule to second notice for

the reasons set forth

 below.

JUSTIFICATION FOR PROPOSED AMENDMENT

The Agency

 in its proposal provides the following argument

for adoption of

 the proposed amendment:

Paragraph

 (b) provides an exemption for winter

(November thru March) water quality violations.

In

adopting this

 rule

 in PCB R77—6, the Board

 noted

 that

~bio1ogic treatment of domestic wastewater

 is virtually

universally practiced...”

 (Final Order dated June

22,

1978, page

9).

 The Board continued as

 follows (page

10):

“The process

 of nitrification, however,

is

temperature dependent;

 the rate of

nitrification decreases as the temperature

decreases.

It

 is not cost—effective to design

biological processes capable of

 removing

ammonia nitrogen to 1.5 mg/i from very cold

domestic wastewater.

 In Illinois, facilities

treating domestic wastewater utilizing

the

types of biologic processes which yield

effluent concentrations of 1.5 mg/i during the

warm months

 are usually incapable of

consistently reducing ammonia nitrogen

concentrations below 4.0 mg/l during cold

weather.”

Since adoption,

 it has been evident

 that these same

technological limitations remain relevant.

 Biological

processes are still

 the only cost—effective and

environmentally acceptable means of ammonia nitrogen

reduction;

 and the efficiency of these processes

is

still greatly affected by Cold temperatures.

 Attachment

95—242

—3—

A3 provides an analysis of the performance of

74

municipal wastewater

 treatment facilities designed

for

nitrification

 in Illinois.

 Each facility represents

“state—of—the art”

 nitrificatiori and has

 a record

of

good operation.

 The overall performance of these

facilities

 falls within the expected range.

It

 is clear

that application of the most stringent effluent

standard,

 1.5 mg/i, during

 the winter months would

result

 in unacceptably high violation rates on

 a monthly

basis

 for these facilities.

 Water quality based permit

limits, however, are established as daily maxima,

 rather

than monthly averages.

 The violation

 rate for the

facilities

 in Attachment A would

 be significantly higher

if calculated

 on a daily maximum basis.

 In addition,

nearly 300

 other municipal sources are regulated for

ammonia discharges.

 Many of

 these sources perform

significantly worse with regard to ammonia removal.

Typically this

 is due to organic or hydraulic

overloading

or

 operational problems.

 As indicated

in

Attachment

 B, many of

 those

300

 facilities are currently

designing

 or constructing nitrification equipment.

 Each

of

 these facilities

 is designed

 in accordance with the

same stringent design standards as the facilities

in

Attachment

A.

 The Agency believes that the prudent

course of action would be

 to extend

 the exception

for

winter months

 (Paragraph

b)

 an additional

 3 years.

 This

will

 allow time for completion and performance

evaluation of most of these facilities.

 At that time,

the Agency will

be

in

 a better position

 to assess

the

need for

 a permanent rule change.

The Agency’s testimony at hearing basically reiterated

its

position

 as stated

 in the proposal and quoted above.

The

comments of the Springfield Metro Sanitary District,

 the Downers

Grove Sanitary District and

 the testimony provided by Thorn

 Creek

Basin Sanitary District and the IASD are supportive of the

proposal,

 emphasizing

 the sensitivity of biological nitrification

processes and their slow recovery during the winter months.

~ Board note:

 Attachments A and B,

 as referenced

in

 this quote,

refer

 to attachments

 to the Agency’s Proposal in the instant

docket

 (see

 footnote

2).

 Attachment A consists of

 a two—page

tablation of ammonia effluent concentrations

 for various sewage

treatment plants

 in Illinois.

 Attachment B consists

of

 a one—

page list of sewage treatment facilities

 in Illinois which are

currently proposing nitrification of effluents.

 The attachments

were later

 received

 into the record

 at hearing

 as Agency Exhibits

2 and

3,

respectively.

95—243

—4—

Water Quality Impact

The Agency

 in response

 to questioning

 at hearing submitted

data with its comments which indicates that the winter violation

rate

for

 ammonia was 0.29 percent from 1983

 to the most

 recent

data available.

 The Agency emphasizes that this information was

obtained from the ambient water quality monitoring network.

The

data

 is therefore

 indicative

 of background levels

 rather than

of

the water quality

in

 the vicinity of

 a point source discharger

(R.

at

18,

 102; Agency Comment at

3).

 Water quality data from

the vicinity of point source dischargers

 is not available.

However, DENR believes

 that “it

 is likely that such data would

show

a

 low water quality violation rate” because,

 as the Agency

testified, municipal effluents are usually near neutral

 (DENR

comment

at

2;

R.

at

 18).

 This follows because the un—ionized

ammonia standard

 is the standard most likely

 to be exceeded, and

at neutral conditions relatively little

of

 the ammonia exists

in

the un—ionized

 form.

The Agency further testified that

 the data on point sources

is presently being gathered

 through

 the NPDES permitting system

and that the three year extension of the exemption would provide

time with which

 to evaluate that information

(R.

at

 103).

In

fact,

 the Agency further noted

 its commitment

 to review

the

situation

 as part of

 its next triennial water quality standard

review to be submitted to USEPA

 (Id.).

 USEPA also indicated that

it concurs with

 “the proposed changes

 to WQS

 for ammonia—N”

(Agency

 Exh.

4).

DENR has also provided

 the Board with certain tables and

graphs which have aided

 the Board

 in its analysis

of

the

potential

 for winter water quality violations due

 to ammonia.

In

its final analysis, DENR concludes that “the water quality impact

of continuing the winter exception is probably minimal since,

even with the exception

 in place,

 very few water quality

violations are expected”

 (DENR comments at

2).

Based on the record

 in this proceeding and

 in light of the

low rate of water quality violations and the efforts which will

be made to study

 the necessity for

a

 future winter exemption,

the

Board believes

it

 is reasonable to extend

 the exemption contained

in Section 304.301

 for an additional

 three years, until July

1,

1991.

 The Board therefore accepts the Agency’s proposal and

directs

 that it

 be sent to second notice.

CHANGES FROM FIRST NOTICE

The Board sends

 this proposal

 to second notice with certain

changes which were made in response to comments received

subsequent

to

 first notice publication and as discussed at

hearing

(R.

 88—89, Agency Comments at

3).

 The changes made

relate mainly to clarification of the proposed

 rules

 to better

95—244

—5—

effectuate

 the intent

 as indicated

 in the proposal.

 The proposed

language, as published

for

 first notice,

 could be

 read as

possibly extending

 the exemption contained

 in subsection

(a)

of

304.301

 in addition to that contained

in

 subsection

(b)

of

 304.

301.

 This was not the intention of the Agency

 (Id).

 Subsection

(a) provided an exemption

for

 small dischargers which allowed

such small dischargers to defer ammonia reduction projects

in

order

 to coordinate

 these efforts with other planned

improvements.

 The Agency now believes that ample

 time has been

given

 to these small dischargers and that the ammonia water

quality standard should now apply to both large

 and small

dischargers

(R.

 at 10—il; Agency comment

at

3).

 The Agency

suggests modification of

 the language as proposed

for

 first

notice to

 include deletion of

 subsection

 (a), with other

nonsubstantive modifications

 to provide consistency with the

deletion.

ORDER

The Board hereby directs that second notice of

 the following

proposed amendments

 be submitted

 to the Joint Committee on

Administrative Rules.

TITLE

35:

 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

SUBTITLE

C:

 WATER POLLUTION

CHAPTER

I:

 POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

PART

304

EFFLUENT STANDARDS

SUBPART A:

 GENERAL EFFLUENT STANDARDS

Section

304 .101

304.102

304.103

304.104

304.105

304.106

304.120

304.121

304.122

304.123

304. 124

304.125

304.126

 304.140

304.141

304.

142

Preamble

Dilution

Background Concentrations

Averaging

Violation of Water Quality Standards

Offensive

Discharges

Deoxygenating

Wastes

Bacteria

Nitrogen

(STORET

number

00610)

Phosphorus

(STORET

number

00665)

Additional

Contaminants

pH

Mercury

Delays

Upgrading

(Repealed)

NPDES

Effluent

Standards

New

Source

Performance

Standards

(Repealed)

95—245

—6—

SUBPART

SITE

SPECIFIC

RULES

AND

EXCEPTIONS

NOT

GENERAL

APPLICABILITY

Section

304.201

Wastewater

Treatment

Plant

Discharges

the

Metropolitan

Sanitary

District

Greater

Chicago

304.202

Chior—alkali

Mercury

Discharges

St.

Clair

County

304.203

Copper

Discharges

Olin

Corporation

304.204

Schoenberger

Creek:

 Groundwater Discharges

304.205

John

Deere

Foundry

Discharges

304.206

Alton

Water

Company

Treatment

Plant

Discharges

304.207

Galesburg

Sanitary

District

Deoxygenating

Wastes

Discharges

304.208

City

Lockport

Treatment

Plant

Discharges

304.209

Wood

River

Station

Total

Suspended

Solids

Discharges

304.210

Alton

Wastewater

Treatment

Plant

Discharges

304.212

Sanitary

District

Decatur

Discharges

304.213

Union

Oil

Refinery

Ammonia

Discharge

304.214

Mobil

Oil

Refiner

Ammonia

Discharge

304.215

City

Tuscola

Wastewater

Treatment

Facility

Discharges

304.216

Newton

Station

Suspended

Solids

Discharges

SUBPART

TEMPORARY

EFFLUENT

STANDARDS

Section

304.301

Exception

for

Ammonia

Nitrogen

Water

Quality

Violations

Appendix

References

Rules

AUTHORITY:

Implementing

Section

and

authorized

Section

the

 Environmental Protection Act

(Ill.

Rev.

Stat.

1987,

ch.

111—1/2,

pars

1013

and

1027).

SOURCE:

Filed

with

the

Secretary

State

January

1978;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

30,

343,

effective

July

27,

1978;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

44,

151,

effective

November

1978;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

95,

effective

May

17,

1979;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

190,

effective

June

21,

1979;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

20,

53,

effective

May

1980;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

563,

effective

December

24,

1981;

codified

Ill.

Reg.

7818,

amended

Ill.

Reg.

11161,

effective

September

1982;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

13750

effective

October

26,

1982;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

3020,

effective

March

1983;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

8111,

effective

June

23,

1983;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

14515,

effective

October

14,

1983;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

14910,

effective

November

14,

1983;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

1600,

effective

January

18,

1984;

amended

111.

Reg.

3687,

95—24~

—7—

effective

March

14,

1984;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

8237,

effective

June

1984;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

1379,

effective

January

21,

1985;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

4510,

effective

March

22,

1985;

peremptory

amendment

Ill.

Reg.

456,

effective

December

23,

1985;

amended

Ill.

Reg.

3117,

effective

January

28,

1987;

amended

R84—13

Ill.

Reg.

7291,

effective

April

1987;

amended

R86—l7(A)

Ill.

Reg.

14748,

effective

August

24,

1987;

amended

R84—l6

Ill.

Reg.

2445,

effective

January

15,

1988;

amended

R83—23

Ill.

Reg.

8658,

effective

May

10,

1988;

amended

R87—27

Ill.

Reg.

9905,

effective

May

27,

1988;

amended

R82—7

Iii.

Reg.

10712,

effective

June

1988;

amended

R87—22

at

Ill.

Reg.

13966,

effective

September

1988;

amended

R88—l

Ill.

Reg.

_________

effective

______________________,

amended

R88—22

Ill.

Reg.

________,

effective

_____________________

Section

304.30!

Exception

for

Ammonia

Nitrogen

Water

Quality

Violations

See~ert

304-495

ne~ ~p~’

eede

~

 ~nv ~t~en~

~em

 ~ ~e~ee

~n

e

 s~eneeen

Apf±~

~

 ~a~mg

~n

 ee~e~~tMen~

 ~t~ert~

~e~~ng

no~ exeee~n~ &~~et~n~

pe~ ~y

ne~ e~ie~w-~se

r~ee~rtg~pg~~ng

~rtee~

~eq~~emen~

e~ ~4s

ba)

 Section 304.105 shall

 not apply

 to See~ert35

 Ill.

 Adm.

Code

302.212

for

any

source

during

the

months

November

through

March;

except

that

during

the

months

November

through

March

source

not

exempt

under

subsection

(a)

shall

discharge

effluent

containing

concentration

ammonia

nitrogen

greater

than

4.0

mg/i

the

discharge,

alone

combination

with

other

discharges,

causes

contributes

violation

that

portion

Section

Ill.

Adm.

Code

302.212.

eb)

Compliance

with

the

provisions

g~pI~subsection

(b)

shall

achieved

March

31,

1979,

such

other

date

required

NPDES

permit,

ordered

the

Board

under

Title

VIII

Title

the

Environmental

Protection

Act.

~c)

After

July

1,

~988l99l,

the

exemption

provided

this

~Section

shall

terminate.

(Source:

Amended

R88—22

_____________

Ill.

Req.

effective

95—24

—8—

ORDERED.

Dorothy

Gunn,

Clerk

the

Illinois

Pollution

Control

_________

_____________________

vote

Board,

hereby

certifY

)~Z..

the

above

Order

was

adopted

the

day

__________________,

1989,

7....C

Clerk

Illinois

Po±’lution Control

Board

95—248