ILLINOIS
POLLUTION
CONTROL
BOARD
September
5,
1974
HUBERT
L.
CHAPMAN
PETITIONER
V.
)
PCB 74—217
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
RESPONDENT
)
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Marder)
This case comes to the Board on Petition of Hubert Chapman for
variance from certain unnamed sections of Chapter
3, Water Pollution
Regulations, filed June 14, 1974,
for two trailer parks located in
Carbondale, Illinois
On June 24, 1974, the Agency filed its Motion to Dismiss,
That
Motion was denied by Order of the Board on July 11, 1974.
On August
6,
1974, the Agency filed its Recommendation.
The Agency
recommends variance requested from Rules 501
(a)
and 1201 of Chapter
3 and Agency Technical Policy Statement 20-~24be denied.
On
August
5.,
Mr.
Michael
Wadiak
filed
his
objection
to
the
grant
of
a
variance
to
Petitioner.
The
objection
being
filed
more
than
21
days
after
the
filing
of
the
Petition did
not
oblige the
Board
to
hold
a
hearing
and
no
hearing
was
held.
Petitioner
is
owner
and
operator
of
two
mobile
home
parks
in Car—
bondale.
The Wildwood Mobile Home Park is licensed for
89 units and
the Southern Mobile Home Park is licensed for 77 units.
Both units
have three-stage lagoon cells to treat wastewater from the homes.
Petitioner
alleges
that
all
waste
from
the
parks
is
of
a
domestic
type
and
that
there
are
three
persons
or
less
at
each
trailer
space.
Petitioner
feels
the
requirement
of
taking
weekly
samples
of
the
effluent
from
his
lagoon
and filing of
monthly
reports
with
the En-
vironmental Protection Agency is arbitrary and unreasonable.
He al-
leges
a cost of
$100 per month to do this sampling, and has been told
by his certified operator that this cost could go to $200 per month.
He alleges these costs are arbitrary and unreasonable because they serve
no useful purpose since the Agency allegedly takes monthly samples.
Petitioner further alleges that occupancy in his parks is down be~
cause of decreasing enrollment at Southern Illinois University.
He
feels that his fixed costs
(i.e., taxes, license fees, and utilities)
~irenot
Join
own
md tha~the
oll of sa’gllng is gutting nmg~if~
ant o essure
~i
tis
ash t ow
tr
ts
ecemme~dati
~
A
ercy
sugnests,
and
the
Board
concurs
that
t-et
ti
ncr
i~
in
each
cequell~ng
variance
from
Rules
5
1
a)
and
1
01
ef
Chaoter
~f
the
30cr
~s
Ru~es and
Reguiations
Rule
30
a)
proiides
tnat
all
nersons
discharging
effluents
to
the
waters
of
t~e
S~ate~
of
Illinois
snail
submit
operating
reports
to
the
Agercy
The
Agency
has
promulgated
Technical
Policy
Statement
20-24
to
Lmplemert
this
rule.
Petitioner
is
in
fact
requesting
variance
from the requirements of 20-24
as well
as the substantive rule.
Rule 1201 requires that all treatment p~antsthat discharge effluent
into the waters of Illinois have a certified operator directing and in
active supervision of the plant.
The lagoon at the Wildwood Mobile Home Park
is
a three-cell
lagoon,
the effluent of which after chlorination
is discharged to Drury Creek,
which
is a tributary to Crab Orchard Creek which is tributary to the
Big
Muddy
River.
Following
are
effluent levels from the lagoon
that
are
contained
in the Agency records.
Date
BOD
Suspended
Fecal Coliform
pH
(mg/l)
Solids
(mg/I)
(Count/lOO ml)
Jan,
31/74
2
6
~lO0
7,3
Mar.
5/74
9
19
~7l00
6.9
Mar.
12/74
15
29
2300
6,9
Mar.
14/74
17
27
300
8,0
Apr.
26/74
13
21
100
8.4
Jun.
5/74
30
60
30,000
8.1
Jun.
25/74
15
31
100
8.0
MONTHLY OPERATION REPORTS
Month
(mg/l)
~~ds(mj~j
d3~(m/l)
pH
Nov/73
6
10
0.0
8.0
Dec/73
12
1
0.0
7,3
Jan/74
14
3
0.0
7.3
Feb/74
10
10
0.0
7,2
Mar/74
12
7
0,1
7.3
The lagoon at the Southern Mobile Home Park is also 3-stage, which
discharges
to
an unnamed natural drainage ditch tributary to Drury Creek,
Crab Orchard Creek,
and the Big Muddy River.
Following are effluent levels from this lagoon as contained in Agen-
cy records:
13—522
seer
‘~ea~
~
n~
an
rCC.
~
a~
-
4
icr
3
‘ay
~/
4
Nov/73
Dec/73
Jan/73
Feb/73
Mar/73
TP 20-24 requires that Petitioner supply to the Agency reports on
tests that must be taken as follows:
Also required is a minimum of two hours operation time daily by a
certified operator.
Petitioner~sallegation that these requirements pose an arbitrary and
unreasonable financial burden are not substantiated by the record.
There
is no indication as to what cash flow Petitioner is receiving from these
properties and what gross
and net income is being derived from the parks.
It
is the feeling of the Board that the reporting
q~iire.mmntsar~
a cornerstone to the Board~swater pollution program.
To eliminate
sampling and reporting requirements without a proper showing that this
would not
have
adverse impact on the environment would be foolhardy.
These are minimal requirements to protect the waters
of Illinois.
Such
tests
are a cost
of
doing business.
If
Petitioner cannot afford to have
his own operator, perhaps
he
should attempt to get together with other
owners similarly situated and share
the costs of
an operator.
It
is also
noted by
the Agency that certain of the more expensive
tests
that
Petitioner now must perform may be eliminated,
The Agency
is presently studying a report by Dr. Charles Muchmore
of
Southern
Illinois University which recommends
the elimination of BOD and. suspefld-
ed solids testing for small lagoon system operators.
SOD
uspend~d
mg/I
Sli~l
9
10
10
9
20
Chioranc
Resiaual
mg/I
19
6
5
14
13
O .0
0.0
0.0
0.1
7,3
.4
7,5
7,9
8.2
1.
Settleable solids
-
raw
final
2.
Dissolved
oxygen
-
final
3,
BOD
-
final
4.
Suspended
solids
—
final
5.
Chlorine
residual
-
6.
pH
-
twice weekly
-
twice weekly
-
weekly
-
weekly
-
weekly
weekly
w~ekly
13
—523
—4—
The objection filed by Mr. Wadiak states that his property adjoins
the property
in question and he feels
that a close check should be
maintained on the effluent from Petitioner~splants.
He notes that at
certain times of the year his horses will not drink the water because
of
odor and algae growths.
It
is the opinion of the Board that Petitioner
has not supplied ade-
quate
facts as
to
arbitrary
and unreasonable hardship to justify
the
grant of a variance in this matter.
This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions of
law of the Board.
ORDER
IT
IS
THE
ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that variance from
Rule 501
(a)
and
Rule
1201
of
Chapter
3
is
denied without prejudice.
I,
Christan
L.
Moffett,
Clerk
of
the
Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board, certify that the above Opinion and Order was adopted by the
Board on the 5th day of September,
1974,
by a
vote of
4
to
0.