ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

July

3,

1990

CITY OF WHITE HALL,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 90—123

(Provisional Variance)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(J.

Marlin):

This matter comes before the Board on receipt of an Agency

Recommendation dated July

2,

1990.

The recommendation refers to

a request from Petitioner,

City of White Hall, for a provisional

variance from the wastewater effluent biochemical oxygen demand

(BOD)

and total suspended solids

(TSS)

limitations,

as set forth

in 35

Ill.

Adm.

Code 304.120 and 304.141(a).

The City seeks a

provisional variance for the period from June 29,

1990 to July

20, 1990 or until the City of White Hall returns its activated

sludge plant to service, whichever comes first.

The City of White Hall owns and operates

a wastewater

treatment plant that discharges effluent to Seminary Creek which,

in turn,

discharges to Apple Creek and the Illinois River.

The

plant consists of

a bar screen aerated grit chamber,

a primary

clarifier,

an activated sludge plant,

a clarifier,

an aerobic

digester,

tertiary filtration, and effluent chlorination.

NPDES

Permit 1L0022390 presently requires the City to discharge

effluent with no greater than 10 mg/l BOD and 12 mg/i TSS

content,

on a monthly average basis.

The City claims to have experienced breakage problems with

the clarifier drive mechanism on the activated sludge plant.

The

mechanism failed on April

8,

1990,

and the City replaced it on

May 9,

1990.

It failed again on June 21,

1990.

Shear pin

failure on the clarifier drive units preceded both failures.

The

drive mechanism has been repaired and installed,

but the City

is

concerned that another problem may have caused the failures.

The City claims that

it is necessary to dewater the

clarifier to determine

if another problem exists.

This would

require the City to dewater all compartments of the treatment

plant because the internal dividers would not withstand the

pressures resulting from dewatering the individual compartment.

This would place the activated sludge unit out of

service during

dewatering and repairs.

During such

a period, however,

the City

could provide partial treatment by screening,

grit removal,

flow

measurement, primary settling, aeration in the excess flow tank,

rapid sand filtration,

and final settling.

This would result in

113—97

---

2

an effluent that would

not exceed 25 mg/i BOD and 40 mg/i TSS

during the period of repairs.

The City asserts that there is no available alternative

method to correct the situation with its plant.

It predicts that

far above average amounts of rainfall would result in no adverse

environmental effects.

Upon receipt of the request, the Agency issued its

recommendation,

concluding that the lack of an available

alternative method for correcting the situation with the City’s

plant “creates

a hardship adequate enough to justify granting”

the requested provisional variance.

The Agency concurs in the

City’s assessment as to the availability of an alternative method

~or correction and as to the prospective environmental impact of

grant of a pr

i—&i-ona-l

variance.

Th~Agency asserts that a

~enia1of the requested provisional variance would impose an

arbitrary and unreasonable hardship on the City.

The Agency

states that no federal laws would preclude a grant of the

requested provisional variance, and the Agency is of no public

water supply that such a grant would adversely affect.

The

Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional

variance with conditions.

In light of the Agency Recommendation,

the Board hereby

grants the City of

White

Hall a provisional variance from the BOD

and TSS requirements of 35 Iii. Adm. Code 304.120 and 304.141(a)

on the following conditions:

1.

The term of this provisional variance shall commence on

June 29,

1990 and continue until the City of White Hall

returns its activated sludge plant to service,

or until July

20,

1990, whichever occurs first;

2.

The City of White Hall shall discharge no effluent that

exceeds 25 mg/i BOD or 40 mg/i TSS content during the term

of this provisional variance;

3.

The City of White Hall shall notify Bud Bridgewater by

telephone,

at 217-786-6892, when it begins dewatering the

activated sludge plant and when it returns that unit to

service;

4.

The City of White Hall shall verify each notification

made by telephone pursuant to condition number

3

in writing

within five days of such telephone notification, addressed

as follows:

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Division of Water Pollution Control

2200 Churchill Road

P.O. Box 19276

113-98

---

3

Springfield,

Illinois

62794—9276

Attn:

Pat Lindsey

5.

The City of White Hall shall return its activated

sludge plant to service as soon as is possible and shall

provide the best treatment practicable during the term of

this provisional variance;

6.

The City of White Hall shall execute a Certificate of

Acceptance and Agreement in the following form:

CERTIFICATION

I

(We),

hereby accept and agree to be bound by all terms and

conditions

of the Order of the Pollution Control Board in

PCB 90—123,

dated July

3,

1990.

Petitioner

Authorized Agent

Title

Date

7.

The City of White Hall shall forward to the Agency an

executed copy of the Certificate executed pursuant to

condition number

6 within 10 days of the date of this Order

addressed as indicated in condition number

4.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

113—99

---

4

I, Dorothy M.

Gunn,

Clerk of the

I11ino:~sPollution Control

Board,

do hereby certi

hat the above Order was adopted on the

J1~

day of __________________________,

1990, by a vote of

Ill

erk

Control Board

113-100