ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January18
,
1979
VILL1~GEOF HAMMOND,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 78—286
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF
THE
BOARD
(by Mr. Young):
This matter comes before the Board on
an Amended
Petition for Variance of the Village of Hammond filed
November
30, 1978,
seeking variance from Eules
203(c)
and 402 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution,
of the Pollution
Control Board Rules and Regulations,
as those rules apply
to phosphorus.
Hearing was waived
by
the Petitioner;
an
Agency Recommendation was
filed December 19,
1978.
The Village of Hammond, 1970 population
502,
located
in Piatt County,
Illinois,
began operation in 1967 of
the existing sewage treatment facility which consists of
three non-aerated stabilization lagoons
in series followed
by effluent chlorination.
The treatment facility discharges
into the Hammond 1~utualDitch which discharges to the West
Okaw River.
The West Okaw River
is tributary to Lake
Shelbyville and monitoring data indicates that the West
Okaw River exceeds the phosphorus water quality standard
of 0.05 mg/i at the point where the River enters Lake
Shelbyville.
Accordingly, the effluent from Petitioner’s
treatment facility
is limited to a phosphorus concentration
of
0.05 mg/i by Rules 203(c)
and 402
(Pet.
1).
Petitioner
is currently in the process
of planning
to upgrade the existing facility; the proposed facility
will cons~stof two aerated cells followed by
a third cell
with dual submerged sand filters and chlorination with the
aeration system designed for ammonia control.
An applica-
tion for a lagoon exemption pursuant
to Rule 404(c) (iii)
was submitted to the Agency and denied because of the
inability to meet the phosphorus limitation of Rule 203(c).
Petitioner has a priority number of 645 and the Agency
believes that grant funding will not be available for five
32—447
—2—
years
(Rec.
2).
There are presently 550 persons within the
Facilities Planning area;
the design average flow of the
upgraded facility will be 0.10 MGD.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Eut-
rophication Survey indicates that the Village of Hammond
contributes 0.33
of the annual phosphorus
loading to Lake
Shelbyville
(Pet.
4,
5).
The Village has examined a number
of alternatives to meet the phosphorus effluent limitations
of Chapter
3, none are economically reasonable
(Pet.
3; Rec.
3,
4)
The Board
is familiar with the problems facing municipal
dischargers
in meeting 0.05 mg/i phosphorus water quality and
effluent standards.
City of Hoopeston, PCB 76—234,
24 PCB 441;
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, PCB 77-111,
25
P03 775; Valley Water Company, Inc.,
PCB 77-146,
25 PCB 289.
In those and other cases, the Agency and the Board have
recognized that it is economically impractical for the peti-
tioners
to comply with the current phosphorus limitation of
Chapter
3.
In addition,
the Agency has petitioned the Board
in regulatory proposal R76—l
for appropriate amendments to
the phosphorus effluent and water quality standards of the
Water Pollution Regulations and the Board has adopted a pro-
posed final Order for publication and comment.
If regulatory
proposal R76-l is adopted as now proposed,
the Village of
Hammond would not be required to provide phosphorus removal.
The Board will direct the Agency to issue a new NPDES
permit to Petitioner consistent with this Order pursuant to
Rule 914 of Chapter
3 and to include interim effluent limita-
tions as may be reasonably achieved through the application
of best practicable operation and maintenance practices in
the existing facilities.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
and conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
1.
The Village of Hammond is granted a variance for the
operation of its wastewater treatment plant from Rules 203(c)
and 402 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Rules and Regulations
regarding phosphorus for five years from the date of this Order
subject to the following condition:
(a)
This variance will earlier terminate upon
adoption by the Board of any modification
of the existing phosphorus water quality
standards and effluent limitations and the
Village shall comply with such revised reg-
ulations when adopted by the Board.
32—448
—3-.
2.
Petitioner, within
30 days of the date of this Order,
shall request Agency modification of NPDES permit to incorporate
all conditions of the variance set forth herein.
3.
The Agency, pursuant to Rule 914 of Chapter
3, shall
issue a new NPDES permit consistent with the conditions set
forth
in this Order including appropriate monitoring require-
ments and such interim effluent limitations
as may reasonably
be achieved through the application
of best practicable
operation and maintenance practices
in the existing facilities.
4.
Petitioner
shall continue to pursue construction grant
funding and shall meet all applicable grant deadlines.
5.
Within forty-five
(45)
days of the date of this Order,
the Petitioner shall submit to the Manager, Variance Section,
Division of Water Pollution Control, Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency,
2200 Churchill Road,
Springfield, Illinois,
62706, an executed Certification of Acceptance and Agreement
to be bound to all terms and conditions of the variance.
The
forty—five day period herein shall be suspended in the event
of judicial review of this variance pursuant to Section
31
of the Environmental Protection Act.
The form of said certi-
fication shall be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We), ___________________________
having read
the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 78—286,
understand and accept said Order, realizing that such
acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto
binding and enforceable.
SIGNED
TITLE
DATE
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, her by certif
the above Opinion and Order were
ado ted on the
)~
~day
of
____________________,
1979 by a vote
of
.
Christan L. Moffett ~prk
32449
Illinois Pollution C
rol
Board