ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May
5,
1983
CONTINENTAL GRAIN COMPANY,
)
Petitioner,
)
V.
)
PCB 83—64
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by W.J. Nega):
This provisional variance request comes before the Board upon
a May
5,
1983 Recommendation of the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency
(Agency).
The Agency recommends that Continental Grain
Company (Continental) be given a 45-day extension of the provisional
variance previously granted by the Board on April
7,
1983 in
PCB 83—45 to assure sufficient time
for draining its flooded
irrigation
field and completing repair work on its irrigation
system.
Continental owns and operates a soybean processing plant in
Taylorville, Christian County,
Illinois which has wastewater
treatment facilities that include lagoons and
a spray irrigation
system.
Due to heavy rains,
the northern portion of its
32
acre irrigation field is presently flooded.
tSee:
Exhibit
A).
On April
13,
1983,
the Petitioner notified the Agency,
pursuant to Condition 1 of the Board’s Order in PCB 83-45, that
the discharge from the flooded irrigation field was to begin.
From April 13,
1983 until May 1,
1983,
the Petitioner discharged
water by way of both the small roadside drainage ditch which
leads
to the field tile system and via the 18—inch sluice gate.
However,
a heavy rainfall of approximately
5½
inches occurred
on May
1,
1983 which contributed about 6,000,000 gallons of
water to the remaining 2,000,000 gallons of water that had yet
to be discharged from the irrigation field.
Continental
“lost approximately 12 days of pumping” due to
this heavy rainfall.
(See:
Exhibit B).
Because the drainage ditch
became flooded from surface runoff, Continental was forced to
temporarily stop discharging into that ditch.
Thus, because of
the
unexpectedly heavy rainfall
and flooding of the drainage ditch,
Continental will be unable to drain
its irrigation field and repair
its irrigation system by the May
11,
1983 expiration date of its
provisional variance
in PCB 83—45.
52-163
—2—
On May
2,
1983,
Continental made
a verbal request to the
Agency for an extension of its provisional variance pursuant to
Section 180.401 of the Procedures and Criteria for Reviewing
Applications for Provisional Variances.
This verbal request for
an extension of time was followed—up by a formal written request
in a letter which was received by the Agency on May
3,
1983.
(See: Exhibit B).
The Agency has indicated that samples of the discharge
from the flooded irrigation field have been collected and analyzed
pursuant to Condition
3 of the Board’s Order in PCB 83—45.
The Agency notes that “these samples do not reveal any unexpected
results that were not anticipated from the information provided
in Continental’s original request for a provisional variance.”
(Rec.2).
Accordingly, the Agency has stated that “the continued
discharge for up to an additional
45 days will not cause
a significant
environmental impact to the drainage ditch,
the unnamed ditch or the
South Fork Sangamori River.”
(Rec.2).
The Agency has concluded that compliance on a short—term
basis with the biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD) and total
suspended solids
(TSS)
limitations
of
35 Iii. Adm. Code 304.120(c)
would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship.
It,
therefore,
recommends that the Board grant Continental
a variance from Section
304.120(c)
for a period of
45 days to begin on May
11,
1983,
subject to certain conditions.
Pursuant to Section 35(b)
of the Illinois Environmental
Protection Act, the Board hereby grants the provisional variance
as recommended.
ORDER
Contintental Grain Company is hereby granted a provisional
variance from 35
Ill. Mm. Code 304.120(c)
for a period of
45 days to begin on May
11,
1983,
subject to the following
conditions:
1.
Continental
shall
inform Robert Broms,
Manager,
Compliance
Assurance Section, Division of Water Pollution Control
(217/782—9720):
a.
The day the discharge ceases;
b.
The day repairs are completed and the system is
put back into operation.
2.
Continental
shall either discharge to the sluice gate
in
order to discharge directly to the field tile or, to the
drainage ditch,
but,
if to the drainage ditch, Continental
shall control such
a discharge by use of either a pump
or another method that can be shut on and off;
52-164
—3—
3.
Continental
shall sample, using approved methods, the
discharge
2 times per week for BOD,
TSS, ammonia nitrogen,
and pH;
4.
Sample results shall be submitted to Robert Broms, Manager,
Compliance Assurance Section within
7 days after the end of
each calendar week of discharging;
5.
Continental
shall remove immediately, upon expiration of
this variance, any device used for the discharge;
and
6.
Within 10 days of the date of the Board’s Order,
Continental
shall execute a Certificate
of Acceptance and Agreement
which shall be sent to:
Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency,
Division of Water Pollution Control, Compliance
Assurance Section,
2200 Churchill Road,
Springfield, Illinois
62706.
This certification shall have the following form:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We)
having read the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board
in PCB 83—64 dated May
5,
1983,
understand and accept said
Order, realizing that such acceptance renders all terms and
conditions thereto binding and enforceable.
Petitioner:
By:
Authorized Agent
Title:
Date:
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan
L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby,~certifythat the above Opinion and Order
was adopted on t~he
~
day of
,
1983
by a vote of
‘-/~O
.
Illinois Pollut,
52-165