ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL
bOARD
October
16,
1975
CTS KNIGHTS,
INC.
and CITY OF FAIRBURY,
ILLINOIS,
JOINT PETITIONERS,
)
v,
)
PCB 75—348
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
RESPONDENT.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Dumelle):
Joint Petition for variance was
filed
on September
5,
1975
by
CTS
Knights,
Inc.
(CTS)
and the City
of Fairbury
(City).
The
Petition
asks to allow
a proposed new industrial building to be
connected
to
the City sewage collection system which is under
an
Agency sewer ban
placed into effect January
22,
1974.
A recommendation was
filed by the Agency on October
6,
1975.
No
publ:Lc
hearing was held.
On October 14,
1975 CTS filed a
reply to the Agency recommendation.
On October
9 the Board
was asked by CTS to make
an expedited ruling
in this cause.
On
Oceober
15
the Agency filed a reply to CTS.
And on October 16
CTS filed
additional statements,
CTS
is
an Illinois corporation with
its
principal business
office
in
Sandwich,
Illinois,
The operation in Fairbury
is in
leased
space
and
emp1oy~50 persons
in the manufacture of
quartz crystal blanks
and related products which are used as
components
in
electronic circuits, communication and data
processing
equipment.
Expansion is
desired
into a new plant
tc employ 150 persons with operation to begin about January
1,
1976.
In
1977 employment would reach 250.
The
firm
estimates
its
monthly
water
discharge
at
80,000
gallons
(about
4,000
gpd)
consisting
of
75,000 gallons of
sanitary waste
and
5,000
gallons of decanted liquid from the
aluminum oxide
and
quartz
crystal
settling
process.
The alternatives
to discharging to the sewer system are
iven as:
19—
108
—2--
Four month capacity holding lagoon
$35,000
Septic system
$75,000
Tank truck
removal of waste water
$70,000
Relocation to Forrest, Illinois was rejected because of the
lack of
available space for lease.
Relocation to Wisconsin or
Ohio would cost CTS $80,000 plus $75,000 in unemployment compen-
sation charges for a total of $155,000.
Fairbury has a population of 3,500 and is located
20
miles
from Pontiac.
The sewage treatment plant
is a trickling
filter
secondary treatment plant with the usual equipment.
Its
capacity
is given as 750,000 gpd with primary treatment only
available for an additional 250,000 gpd.
The City’s
sewer
system is
a combined storm and sanitary system with eight
overflows to
Indian
Creek which joins the south branch of the
Vermi:Liion River
3.5 miles downstream.
Pumping capacity is in-
adequate and raw or partially-treated sewage is discharged during
storms.
The Petitioners
state that the biological condition of
Indian
Creek changes from “unbalanced” upstream of the sewage
treatment
plant to “semi—polluted”
at the plant and “unbalanced
non-polluted”
at
the
confluence with the Vermillion.
Farms
border Indian
Creek below the sewage treatment plant and it
is not
used as
a water supply.
The City’s voters approved on July 15,
1975 a bond issue
of
$425,000 to solve their sewage treatment problems.
An
additional $50,000 has been committed by the City to acquire
land for the
expansion project.
The
sum of $1,281,100 has been
offered to the City and accepted by it as the State’s 75
share
of
a total
project eligible cost of $1,708,100
(Exhibit
5).
Completion
of the
sewage treatment project is expected in late 1977.
The
arbitrary and unreasonable hardships to the Petitioners
which would
occur were the subject variance not to be granted are
alleged
to
be
large monetary losses to CTS
in leaving Fairbury;
increased unemployment to City residents~and lost revenues to
the City.
The Agency,
in
its Recommendation, corroborates the
Petitioners
flow figures.
It places present employment at
35
persons
and says nothing about the 250 person employment figure
estimated
in the Petition for 1977.
Eleven
overflows to Indian Creek are given by the Agency
compared
to eight overflows
cited by the
Petitioners.
The Vermilliori
.R~reris given as
the public
~caeer supely
for the City of Pontiac
~hi~h
is said to be
10
to
12
mies
downseream.
The October 15
Oocument filed
by the Agency
also
lists
the
City of Streator
as using the
Vermillion River for a
public
water supply.
Streator
is about
20 miles further downstream from Pontiac.
19— 109
—3—
The sewage treatment plant’s rated
capacity is 300,000
qpd and flows in
excess of 715,000 gpd crc diverted to Indian
Creek.
Bypassing of raw sewage
occurred on
67 days in the first
six months of
1975,
“Settled” effluent
(presumably primary
treatment effluent)
was bypassed 108 days
in
the same period.
The Agency gives its opinion that the City’s
sewer system
cannot handle any new
connections that would increase
hydraulic
loading.
it
believes that the overflows and bypassing
are intermittent
enough to make retention feasible on the Petitioners’
part.
The stream conditions cited by the
Petitioners are verified
by the Agency.
Sludge
deposits
in Indian Creek during dry weather
flows are noted.
The grant
status is given as follows:
Step
I
grant accepted by the City on April
2,
1975;
supplemental Step
I
grant accepted on July
25,
1975;
completed plans for Step
II due
January
31,
1976;
and plant completion due December
31,
1977.
The Asrency recommends
a denial unless an acceptable
method of storing
or treating the wastes is provided so as not
to violate
applicable Rules.
The CTS reply of
October 14,
1975 gives the new operational
date for the factory
as February
1,
1976 instead
of January
1,
1976.
It ailec~es that “through natural cleansing
processes” Indian Creek
recovers at its confluence with the Vermillion and that
the
additional wastes
would create
a negligible effect.
CTS discusses toe urgency
to enter fully the cyclical
citizen band crystal
manufacturing market and the reasons for
its request for an
expedited Board decision.
It has
a large
order which must be filed
by March
31,
1976.
The Board must balance the need
for this additional
employment to the City of Fairbury
(and indeed to Illinois)
and
the evidently excellent time
to
enter the
crystal market with the
environmental effects
of additional raw sewage to Indian Creek.
We agree that additional employment
is
badly needed in
Fairbury and
In the State.
And if the market
is as
favorable
for entry as CTS alleges
it would seem that
a
modest expenditure
for retention could be incurred,
Raw sewage,
as
is well
known,
carries with it enteric
organisms.
Such illnesses
as cholera,
typhoid, polio, dysentery, hepatitis,
shigella, and
salmonella,
can be spread by contact
with raw sewage.
The fact that Indian
Creek seems to recover biologically
tells
us nothing of the
pathogenic bacterial
and viral content of the water.
And 10-12
miles downstream
is the public supply intake of the
City of Pontaic
cccl
below this
is the intake of the
City of Streator.
No qualified
canitarv engineer has given an opinion
in this case on possible
cr~eci
~.
tealt~’
hazards to
l~’ci~ac and
Etreator
or to persons using
ens Ver:
iiion River,
19—
—4—
Normally,
we would remand this proceeding for a hearing
in which to
develop additional
facts.
Time is short according
to CTS
arid thus we
will grant the variance conditional upon at
least four days liquid
waste storage being provided and
utilized during
rains.
The record gives no reason for the
choice of “four months storage”
for the proposed lagoon
alternative.
Should
wet weather continue such that overflows
occur after
four days, CTS will have to take other action to
prevent discharges to the sewer system.
This Opinion
constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions
of law,
Mr. Young
abstains.
ORDER
Variance is
granted to CTS Knights, Inc.
and
to the
City of Fairbury from Rule
962 of the Water Pollution Regulations
to connect a
proposed industrial building to the Fairbury sewer
system provided
that at least four days wastewater storage
(16,000
gallons) shall be installed and used during rainfall
periods with flow
to the sewer system being made no less than
24 hours after
cessation of rain.
However,
if
overflows are
still occurring
from the sewer system to Indian Creek, then CTS
shall take
whatever alternative action is necessary to avoid
discharges
to the sewer system until such overflows cease.
IT IS
SO ORDERED.
I,
Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Boar~
hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted on the
J~day
of October,
1975 by a vote of
~3..
p
Christan L,Th1offe~
,
erk
Illinois Pollution
trol Board
19—
111