ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

May 19,

1983

LEWIS

UNIVERSITY,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 82—138

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by

W.J.

Neqa):

This matter comes before the Board upon a petition for

variance from 35

Ill. Mm.

Code 312.101 filed by Lewis University on

December

6,

1982,

as amended January 12,

1983 and February 25,

1983.

Lewis University

seeks variance to allow its wastewater treatment

plant

(WWTP)

to he operated by

a Class

4 operator.

The

Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) filed a Recommendation on

April 15,

1983 which recommended that variance be denied.

On May

2,

1983,

the Petitioner

filed a response to

the

Recommendation containing additional information which provided

details on the current efforts of its operator to upgrade

his

rating

(by taking the Class

3 Wastewater Operator examination

scheduled for

June

7,

1983)

and included

a recent financial

report

on the precarious financial situation of~the college.

(See:

Exhibits A and B).

No hearing has been held on this matter.

Lewis University

is located near Route 53 in Romeoville,

Will County,

Illinois.

The college is the permanent residence

for 45 Christian Brothers;

employs about

250 people; and houses

750 students

(for an eight month period during the school year).

The WWTP includes a comminutor,

an

aerated splitter box,

secondary clarifier,

three contact stabilization units,

a sludge

holding tank, and chlorination.

Raw sewage entering

the

facility

passes through the comminutor and into an aerated division splitter

box which divides the flow among three 38,333 gallon/day contact

stabilization units operating

in parallel.

Effluents from the

clarifier are combined

in

a chlorine contact tank and subsequently

discharged via an effluent

tile.

Sludge

is first aerobically

digested and then stored in a sludge holding tank until removed.

52-217

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—2—

The WWTP is designed to serve

a

P.E.

of 1,150; has

a design avera~c

~low of 0.115 million gallons per day; and discharges

to an unnamed

~rihutary of the Des Plaines River.

Lewis University was issued NPDES Permit No.

IL 0047589 on

1anuary 13,

1981 which became effective on February 12,

1981

arid

~~iili

expire on October 19,

1983.

This NPDES Permit limits the

petitioner’s discharge of BOD to 10 mg/i and of TSS to 12 mg/i

~s

30 day averages.

Discharge monitoring reports for the period

~f September,

1981 through September,

1982 show general non—

compliance with the NPDES permit limitations

for BOD and TSS.

~gency sampling on various occasions between October 10,

1981

~nd January

4,

1983 confirms that noncompliance occurred.

(Rec.

3).

r~oreover,the Petitioner failed to file any discharge monitoring

~eports for the months, of October,

1981;

November 1981; December,

1981;

rune,

1982; July,

1982’; August,

1982;

and September,

1982.

In addition to excursions

for BOO and TSS, monitoring

~nd reporting excursions

from Petitioner’s NPDES Permit limitations

n ammonia nitrogen and fecal coliform have occurred during this

time period.

Furthermore,

the Petitioner failed to take any

~~amplesfor BOO, TSS,

fecal coliform and ammonia nitrogen from

september,

1982 through January,

1983.

In

a letter to

the Agency

from the

WWTP

operator dated February

21,

1983,

it was indicated

that the failure to take the requisite samples was a result of

~ “lack of communication.”

(Rec.

2—3).

From December

1,

1981 through August of

1982, Lewis University’s

~TP

was under the supervision of

an Agency—approved, properly

certified operator who was hired on a contractual basis

by the

college.

After the resignation of this properly certified

cperator, the WWTP has been operated by two Class

4 operators.

The operator in question,

Mr. Robert

B. Bland,

Jr.,

was

lured by Lewis University on August

17,

1981 to operate the

WWTP

cn weeJ~endsand at night.

Mr.

Bland

received his Class

4 Certificate

cf Technical Competency on August

3,

1982 and was moved

to the

ãay shift by the Petitioner in December of 1982.

In its response to the Recommendation, the Petitioner Included

fts December

7,

1982 financial report which indicated that

it

Experienced financial losses

in

4 of the past

5 years.

Moreover,

lewis University presently has a total indebtedness of $10,058,000.00

(which includes a plant fund indebtedness of $7,309,000.00 plus

~riunrestricted current fund deficit of $2,749,000.00) and an

cperating budget of $11,522,100.00.

Thus,

the Petitioner asserts

that a denial of the requested variance would result

in a severe

financial burden

on the college.

The Agency recommended that the Board deny the requested

variance and emphasized that:

(1) Mr.

Bland had other assigned

duties which restricted

him

from properly operating and maintaining

the WWTP;

(2)

Mr.

Bland failed

to

advance through the Agency’s

certification program and failed to sign up for the Class

3 exar~

52-218

---

—3—

and

(3) the Petitioner did not submit

a report as to its financial

condition so as

to justify its alleged financial hardship.

However,

the new information submitted by the Petitioner on May

2,

1983

addresses the Agency’s primary concerns

in these areas.

Thus,

it

now appears that

Mr.

Bland has been assigned to the WWTP full

time;

that the monitoring and reporting pertaining to effluent

parameters should improve; and that the NPDES Permit limitations

for BOD, TSS, fecal coliform, and ammonia nitrogen will be met.

Moreover,

the recently filed report on the financial condition of

the college does indicate that the Petitioner

is currently in

financial trouble.

Based upon these facts,

the Board finds that denial

of the

requested variance would cause

an arbitrary or unreasonable

hardship upon the Petitioner and concludes that variance should

be granted, subject to various conditions.

The Board will therefore

grant Lewis University a variance from 35 III. Mm.

Code 312.101

to allow its wastewater treatment plant to he operated by a

Class

4 operator.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law in this

matter.

ORDER

Lewis University

is hereby granted a variance from 35

Iii.

Adm. Code 312.101 to allow

its wastewater treatment plant to

be operated by a Class

4 operator until December 31,

1983,

snbject

to

the

following

conditions:

1.

Mr.

Bland

shall

take

the

Class

3 Wastewater Operator

examination

scheduled

for

June

7,

1983;

2.

Lewis

University

shall

promptly

file

all necessary

discharge

monitoring

reports;

‘take

all the requisite

samples;

and

exert

its

best

efforts

to comply with its

NPDES Permit limitations

for BOD, TSS, fecal coliform,

and ammonia nitrogen and promptly report any excursions

to the Agency;

3.

Within 45 days of the date

of this Order, Lewis

University shall execute

a Certification of Acceptance

and Agreement to he bound

to all terms and conditions

of the variance.

Said Certification shall be submitted

to the Agency at 2200 Churchill Road, Springfield,

Illinois

62706.

The 45—day period shall he held in

abeyance during any period that this matter is being

appealed.

The form of said Certification shall

be as followsi

52-219

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—4—

CERTIFICATION

I,

(We)_________________________________

______

_____

hereby accepts and agrees to be bound by all terms and conditions

of the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 82—138,

dated May 19, 1983.

Petitioner

authorized Agent

Title

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I,

Christan L.

Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify that the above 0 inion and Order

was adopted on the

+L

___day

of

________________

1983 by

a vote of

~

Christan L. Mo~

Illinois Pollut o

Control Board