ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January 23, 1975

ELMHURST COUNTRY CLUB,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 74—354

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent,

Mr. Lawrence

X.

Pusateri, appeared on behalf of Petitioner;

Mr. John T. Bernbom, appeared on behalf of Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr. Dumelle):

Petitioner filed a petition for variance on September

30,

1974.

On October 11,

1974,

the Board required petitioner

to submit an amended petition for variance stating the

specific rule or regulation from which a variance was requested.

On October 28, 1974 petitioner amended its variance petition

specifically requesting a variance from Rule 404(a)

of the

Water Pollution Regulations.

OnNovember 25,

1974 the

Environmental Protection Agency (Agency)

filed its recommendation

to deny the variance request.

No hearing was held.

Petitioner owns and operates the Elmhurst Country Club,

consisting of an 18—hole golf course with a clubhouse containing

a lounge and restaurant.

The Country Club is open seven

days per week.

Approximately 12,000 gallons per day of

sewage are produced at the Country Club.

Petitioner has an

existing extended aeration treatment facility.

The sewage

treatment plant was designed to treat 15,000 gallons per

day.

The effluent from petitioner’s sewage treatment plant

is discharged to Salt Creek.

Petitioner must meet the

effluent standard of 30 mg/i BOD and 37 mg/i of suspended

solids found in Rule 404(a)

of the Water Pollution Regulations.

Petitioner alleges that it is engaged in negotiations

with the Village of Addison preparatory to diversion of its

wastewater to the Village of Addison sewage treatment system

and the subsequent abandonment of petitioner’s sewage treatment

plant.

Petitioner is also investigating the possibility of

modifying its treatment plant in order to comply with Rule

15 —307

---

—2—

404(a)

in the event that petitioner does not divert its

wastewaters to the Village of Addison.

Petitioner alleges

that compliance with Rule 404(a) would require an expenditure

of approximately $100,000, which would be totally lost

should it elect

to divert flows to the Village of Addison

sometime in the future.

Petitioner further alleges that the

injury

to the public would be minimal because of dilution

present in Salt Creek.

The

Agency stated that it conducted an investigation of

petitioner’s sewage treatment plant on October 24, 1974 and

found that the facilities were “completely out of service

and it appeared that they had been out of service for some

time’. The Agency characterized petitioner’s effluent as

“murky grey and septic”.

In addition,

petitioner has been

without a treatment plant operator for the past year.

The Board finds that a petitioner who seeks

a variance

should be exhibiting good faith.

At a minimum, this

means that the Country Club should operate its sewage

treatment plant to obtain the best effluent possible.

It has disregarded its obligations.

For this reason,

the

Board has decided to deny petitioner’s request.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law.

ORDER

Petitioner’s request for a variance from Rule 404(a)

of

the Water Pollution Regulations is hereby denied without

prejudice.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were

adopted on the ~Z~’~°

day of January,

1975 by a vote of

~/-~

()____

Christari L. Mo~fett,

k

Illinois Pollution Co

01 Board