ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
November 20, 1997
CITIZENS UTILITIES COMPANY OF
ILLINOIS (Valley Marina Water
Reclamation Facility),
Petitioner,
v.
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
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PCB 98-70
(Provisional Variance - Water)
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b)
(1996)), Citizens Utilities Company of Illinois, (Valley Marina Water Reclamation Facility)
(petitioner), located in Kendall County, Illinois, has requested that the Board grant a
provisional variance from its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permit No. IL0031551, and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120 and 304.141(a). Such request for a
provisional variance and the notification of recommendation were filed with the Board by the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) on November 18, 1997. Pursuant to
Section 35(b) of the Act, the Board must issue the variance within two (2) days of this filing.
Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/35(b) (1996)), the Agency, by and
through its Director, Mary A. Gade, seeks a provisional variance to allow petitioner to
continue to operate its wastewater treatment facility while work is completed to replace the
aeration system. The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional
variance with specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the modification is and anticipates
that the requested provisional variance would have minimal environmental impact on the
receiving stream. The Agency is unaware of any public water supplies that the requested
provisional variance would adversely impact and maintains that a grant of a provisional
variance would violate no federal laws. Accordingly, the Agency believes that a denial of the
requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the
petitioner.
Specifically, the Agency recommends that the Board grant petitioner a 30-day
provisional variance for its Kendall County facility from the total suspended solids and
biochemical oxygen demand effluent discharge requirements, as set forth in its NPDES permit
No. IL0031551, and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120 and 304.141(a). This variance period is
recommended to commence on December 1, 1997, and to continue for 30 days, or until the
units are returned to service, whichever occurs first.
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Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary. The responsibilities of the
Agency and the Board in these short-term provisional variances are different from the
responsibilities in standard variances. See 415 ILCS 5/35(b), 36(c) (1996). In provisional
variances it is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical determinations and a
finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship. The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal
order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the enforceability of the
variance, and to provide notification of the action by a press release.
Having received the Agency recommendation that a denial of the requested relief would
impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the petitioner a
provisional variance from its NPDES permit No. IL003155, and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120
and 304.141(a), subject to the following conditions:
1.
The term of this provisional variance shall commence December 1, 1997, and is
to continue for 30 days, or until the aeration tanks with integral clarifiers units
are returned to service, whichever occurs first.
2. Petitioner shall operate its wastewater treatment facility during the term of this
provisional variance in a manner that assures the best effluent practicable.
Additionally, petitioner shall perform the necessary repair work as expeditiously
as possible to minimize the time period that the units need to be out of service.
3. Petitioner shall meet monthly average effluent concentration limits of 75
milligrams per liter (mg/l) for and biochemical oxygen demand and 75 mg/l for
total suspended solids.
4.
Petitioner shall notify Matthew Wertman or Jay Patel at the Agency’s Maywood
regional office by telephone, at 708/338-7900, when the work begins on the two
units and again when the units are returned to service. Petitioner shall confirm
this notice in writing within five (5) days, addressed as follows:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
Attn: Dan Ray
1021 N. Grand Avenue East
Springfield, IL 62702
Petitioner shall execute a copy of a certificate of acceptance of this provisional variance
and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the above
condition; petitioner shall forward that copy within ten (10) days of the date of this order of
the Board, and the certificate of acceptance shall take the following form:
CERTIFICATION
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(We), _________________________________, hereby accept and agree
to be bound by all terms and conditions of the order of the Pollution Control
Board in PCB 98-70, November 20, 1997.
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Authorized Agent
_____________________________________
Title
_____________________________________
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Board Member K.M. Hennessey abstained.
Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1996)) provides for
the appeal of final Board orders to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days of service of this
order. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 335 establishes such filing requirements. See 145 Ill. 2d
R. 335; see also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246, Motions for Reconsideration.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
the above order was adopted on the 20th day of November 1997, by a vote of 6-0.
Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
