ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

October 24, 1972

NORTH SHORE SANITARY DISTRICT

#72—367

V.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(BY SAMUEL T.

LAWTON,

JR.)

On April

17,

1972 and May 22,

1972,

the North Shore Sanitary

District wrote to

the

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

preliminary to application for permits with respect to its Clavey

Road, Waukegan and Gurnee sewage treatment plants,

inquiring whether

the so-called “Pfeffer exception” applicable to biochemical oxygen

demand (BOD5)

and suspended solids

(SS)

limits would be available

to the District as to effluent discharges of the foregoing plants.

In simple terms,

the Pfeffer exception found in Rule 404(f) (ii)

of the Water Regulations

(Illinois Pollution Control Board Rules

and Regulations,

Chapter

3, Water Pollution)

permits the stated

effluent limits of 4 MG/L of BOD5 and 5 MG/L of SS, where applica-

ble,

to be eased to 10 and 12, respectively, when the required

showing has been made to the Agency that such effluent will meet

the standards provided in Rule 404 (f) (ii) with particular respect

to not causing a violation of applicable Water Quality Standards

and not creating an unfavorable dissolved oxygen condition.

Because of the provisions of our March

31, 1971 Opinion ~nd Order

in case entitled League of Women Voters,

et al

v.. North Shore Sanitary

District,

#70-7, directing

4 and

5 limits for BOD and SS,

respectively,

at the Clavey Road plant, the Environmental Protection Agency respond-

ed to the District’s

inquiry on July 31, 1972

that our March

31,

1971

Order was controlling and that the Pfeffer exception would not be

available to the Clavey Road plant, although it would be to the

Waukegan and Gurnee plants.

The

North Shore Sanitary District filed

a proceeding with us

which we docketed as an appeal pursuant to Section 40 of the Environ-

mental Protection Act, on the basis that the Environmental Protection

Agency’s response to the District’s inquiry was tantamount

to

a

statement that a permit application as

to the Clavey Road plant seek-

ing the 10-12 limits would be denied, even if the requisite showing

could be made.

We decide the case accordingly.

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While a hearing was held on the District’s petition,

the issue

presented is solely one of law.

We sustain the North Shore Sanitary

District’s

appeal, reversing the ruling of the Environmental Protec-

tion Agency and hold that the Pfeffer exception is available to the

North Shore Sanitary District in the operation of

its Clavey Road

plant.

In doing so, we do not hold by this decision that the Clavey

Road plant

.is permitted to discharge up to 10 BOD5 and 12

SS limits,

but only that the District is not foreclosed by our March

31,

1971

Opinion from seeking the benefits of the Pfeffer exception upon

a

proper showing to the Environmental Protection Agency that will

justify the relaxed limits.

It will be up to the Environmental Pro-

tection Agency to determine whether the District has satisfied the

Regulations as provided in our Rules,

(supra),

to entitle it to the

10-12 exception.

The adoption of the Pfeffer exception,

in effect modified our

March

31,

1971 Order

to the extent applicable.

Indeed, one of the

motivations for the exception was the inordinate cost to which the

horth Shore Sanitary District might be subjected to meet tertiary

treatment requirements without any notable corresponding improvement

in the dissolved oxygen content in the receiving stream,

See Opinion

of March

7,

1972 in matter of Effluent Criteria and Water Quality

Standards Revisions,

#R70-8,

R71—l4,

3 PCB 755,

768.

Our variance

Order of January 31,

1972,

North Shore Sanitary District v, Environ-

mental Protection Agency,

#71—343,

3 PCB 541, permitting an effluent

of

20 BOD5 and 25 SS from the Clavey Road plant was a variance allow-

ance available to the District during the period of construction and

will expire on January

31,

1973.

While this variance may be extended

upon a proper showing,

it does not alter the ultimate requirement of

4 BOD and 5 SS modified by the Pfeffer exception of

10 and 12, respec-

tively,

if applicable, which limits we require

as the ultimate stan-

dard for the Clavey Road effluent when the plant is completed.

To qualify for

the

Pfeffer exception,

Rule 404 (f) (ii) (D)

requires

the submission of a project completion schedule prior to September 1,

1972.

Since the District’s inquiry to the Agency pre-dated the

September

1,

1972 date, we hold that the District may pursue the

Pfeffer exception notwithstanding the passage of the September

1,

1972 date if,

in fact,

it has not already submitted a completion

schedule, providing

a schedule is submitted within 35 days from this da

This opinion constitutes the findings

of fact and conclusions of

law of the Board,

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£

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IT IS THE ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that the

decision of the Environmental Protection Agency dated July

31,

1972 denying the North Shore Sanitary District the application

of Rule 404(f) (ii)

of the Illinois Pollution Control Board Rules

and Regulations,

Chapter

3

(Water Pollution)

as to the Clavey

Road plant,be reversed, and that the North Shore Sanitary District

be entitled to the benefits of said Rule as

to the Clavey Road

plant upon a requisite showing of entitlement being made to the

Environmental Protection Agency,

in accordance with this order.

I,

Christan Moffett, Clerk

of

the

Illinois Pollution Control

Boa93,

certify

that

the

above

Opinion

and

Order

was

adopted

on

the

~

day

of

October,

A.

D.

1972, by

a vote of

~‘

to

C

~

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