ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February 11,

1976

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Complainant,

v.

)

PCB 75—282

VILLAGE OF SOUTH WILMINGTON,

a

municipal corporation,

Respondent.

Mr. James

L.

Dobrovolny, Assistant Attorney General, Attorney

for the Complainant

Mr. James

L.

Peacock, appeared on behalf of the Respondent

OPINION AND ORDER OF

THE

BOARD

(by Mr. Young):

This case arises out of

a Complaint filed by the Environ-

mental Protection Agency

(Agency)

on July

23, 1975 alleging that

the Village of South Wilmington

(Village) operated

a public water

supply from September

12, 1973 until the date of the filing of

the Complaint in violation of Section 1(b)

of the Operation of

a Public Water Supply Act

(Ill.

Rev.

Stat.

1973,

Ch. ill 1/2,

par.

501-523) (Certification Statute), by failing

to employ a

person certified as

competent as

a Class

B or Class A water supply

operator.

It was also alleged that the Village has violated Rule

302 of the Illinois Pollution Control Board Rules and Regulations,

Chapter

6:

Public Water Supply

(Rules) by failing to have in its

employ a certified water supply operator from December

21,

1974

until the date of the filing of the Complaint,

and therefore in

further violation of Section

18 of the Environmental Protection

Act

(Act).

Hearing was held on December

3,

1975,

in Ottawa,

Illinois

at which time

a Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement

(Stipulation)

was entered into the record.

No additional evidence was adduced

at the hearing;

no members of

the public were in attendance.

The Stipulation provided that the Village operates

a public

water supply serving

a population of approximately 750 people.

The

system includes two drilled wells, a ground storage

tank,

an elevated

storage tank and a distribution system into which the water

is pumped

after it is aerated and chlorinated.

The Stipulation provided that

the Village operated its public water supply from September 12, 1973

until

the date of the filing of the Complaint without a properly

certified water supply operator.

20—33

---

—2—

The Village’s

failure to have in its employment a properly

certified water supply operator was noted in a field inspection

on September

5, 1973 and reported to the Village by the Agency

on October

3,

1973.

Correspondence from the Agency concerning the

lack of a certified operator and explaining the means of obtaining

one was sent

to the Village on March

4,

1975.

On April

9,

1975,

the Agency’s Notice of Violation was sent to

the Village.

On

April

23,

1975,

the Agency sent a letter to the Village stating

the Notice of Violation had been sent prematurely since

the Agency

had received an application

to take the May

5,

1975 certification

examination from Anton

S. Shoudis, Water Superintendent for the

Village.

The April 23, 1975 letter stated that should Mr. Shoudis

not pass the May

5,

1975 examination,

the Village must employ

a

certified operator by May 26, 1975.

Mr. Shoudis did not pass the

May 5th examination and did not take the next exam given on June

2,

1975.

The Complaint was filed on July 23, 1975, while in mean-

time Mr. Shoudis had taken the Class

C operator’s examination given

on July

6,

1975.

The examination papers were graded on July

27,

1975,

at which time the Agency learned Mr. Shoudis had passed.

The Stipulation provided that no penalty should be assessed

for any violations found

to exist by the Board.

It further pro-

vided that the Class

C certificate of competence held by the

Village’s Water Superintendent, Anton Shoudis,

satisfies the re-

quirements of Section

1 of the Certification Statute.

On the basis

of the Stipulation the Board

finds that the

Village did violate Rule

302 of the Rules by failing to employ a

certified water supply operator from December

20,

1974 until the

date of the filing of the Complaint,

and finds

a further violation

of Section 18 of the Act.

The Board notes the spirit of cooperation

exhibited by the Village from March through July of

1975.

In

light of the efforts of Mr. Shoudis

in obtaining the Class C certi-

ficate, we feel

that no penalty is appropriate.

That portion of the Complaint alleging violation of Section

1(b)

of the Certification Statute is dismissed for lack of prose-

cution.

While facts are contained in the Stipulation showing that

the Village operated its water supply without employing

a properly

certified operator,

the Stipulation contains no facts which support

the finding of a violation of Section

1(b)

which requires the

employment

of

a person certified as competent as

a Class

B or Class

A water supply operator.

As noted above,

the parties agree that

the employment by the Village of an operator holding a Class C

certificate satisfies its obligations under Section

1.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of

fact and conclusions

of law of the Board in this matter.

20—34

---

—3—

ORDER

IT IS THE ORDER OF THE BOARD that the Village of South

Wilmington,

in the operation of its public water supply, has

violated Rule 302 of the Public Water Supply Rules and has

further violated Section

18 of the Environmental Protection Act.

No penalty

is assessed for these violations.

IT IS THE FURTHER ORDER OF THE BOARD that the portion of the

Complaint alleging violation of Section 1(b)

of the Certification

Statute

is dismissed.

I, Christan

L. Moffett,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, herejY certify th

a ove Opinion and Order were

adopted on the

/(

“

day of _________________________,

1976

by a vote of

*/-~

.

QLLs~

‘i ~

Christan

L. Moff

,

Clerk

Illinois Pollutio

Control Board