ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

December

18,

1986

CITY OF PEKIN NC.

1,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 86—212

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER

OF THE BOARD

(by

J.D. Dumelle):

This matter comes before the Board

upon

a December

16,

1986

recommendation by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

(Agency)

that the City of Pekin

(Pekin)

be granted

a

30—day

provisional variance from 35

Ill. Adm.

304.121, subject

to

conditions,

to allow Pekin

to complete construction of the

improvements

to its chlorination system

at its wastewater

treatment facility.

Pekin owns and operates

a

3.7 irillion gallons per day design

average flow wastewater

treatment facility consisting of bar

screen,

aerated grit chamber, flow measurement, pumps, primary

clarifiers, cultivated sludge process, secondary clarifiers,

chlorination, aerobic and anaerobic digester, sludge lagoon and

excess flow basin which discharges

its effluent

to the Illinois

River.

Pekin asserts that

it has been unable

to

complete the work

to

its chlorination facilities due

to an unexpected delay

in

delivery of the equipment

to

be

installed from November

24,

1986

to December

8,

1986.

Pekin contends that it has completed

installation of the new chlorine lines

and has

removed the old

chlorination equipment and that all that

is left

to do is

install

and connect the new equipment when

it arrives.

Pekin asserts that denial

of provisional variance would

impose

an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship since completion of

the work

to the chlorination facilities cannot

be accomplished

without discontinuing chlorination and

that there

is no

reasonable alternative

to discontinuing chlorination at sometime

during

the construction process

in order

to complete work and

return the chlorination facilities

to service.

The Agency has found

that denial

of provisional variance

would

impose

an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on Pekin and

74-303

---

—2—

that there

is no reasonable alternative to discontinuing

chlorination at some time during the construction process.

Therefore,

the Agency recommends that Pekin be granted

a

provisional variance from 35

Ill. Adm.

Code 304.121, subject to

conditions.

The Agency bases

its decision on the fact that

Pekin’s discharge will have minimal environmental impact on the

Illinois River

and that

there

are no downstream public water

supplies which would be adveresly affected by the grant of

provisional variance since

the first downstream public water

supply is the City of Alton on the Mississippi

River.

The Board agrees and hereby grants Pekin provisional

variance

from 35 Ill.

Adm.

Code 304.121, subject

to conditions,

to allow Pekin

to complete the necessary improvements

to its

chlorination system at

its wastewater treatment facility

11.

This Opinion constitutes

the Board’s finding

of fact and

conclusions of law

in this matter.

ORDER

The City of Pekin

is hereby granted provisional

variance

from 35

Ill.

Adm.

Code 304.121, subject

to the following

conditions:

1.

Variance shall commence on December

14,

1986 and shall

continue for

30 days or

until

the chlorination work

is completed,

whichever

occurs

first.

2.

The City of Pekin

shall

notify Gary Reside of the

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s Compliance Assurance

Section via telephone at 217/782—9720 when chlorination

is

restarted and when the work on the chlorination facilities

is

completed.

Written confirmation of each such notification shall

be submitted

to the following address:

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Division of Waster Pollution Control

2200 Churchill Road

Springfield,

IL 62706

ATTN:

Mr. Gary Reside

3.

The City of Pekin

shall continue

to sample

and analyze

its effluent and submit discharge monitoring reports

as required

by NPDES permit #1L0034495.

4.

The City of Pekin

shall

limit

the time that chlorination

is discontinued

to that necessary to complete the work on the

chlorination facilities

in

a safe, timely and efficient manner.

74-304

---

—3—

5.

The City of Pekin shall operate and maintain

its

wastewaters treatment facility

*1

so as

to produce the best

effluent practicable.

6.

Within

10 days of the date

of this Order, the City of

Pekin

shall execute a Certificate of Acceptance and Agreement to

be bound

by the terms and conditions of this provisional variance

which

shall be sent

to:

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Division of Water Pollution Control

Compliance Assurance Section

200 Churchill Road

Springfield,

IL 62706

ATTN:

Jim Frost

IT

IS SO ORDERED.

I,

Dorothy

N.

Gunn,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board,

hereby certify that the above O~inionand Order was

adopted

on the

~

day of

-~4~t~

,

1986 by a vote

of

/‘~

I

~1

//

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~

borothy

N.

dunn,

Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control

Board