ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
March 25,
1976
SANITARY DISTRICT OF ELGIN,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 75—502
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Dumelle):
On December 29,
1975 the Sanitary District of Elgin,
Illinois
(District)
filed before this Board
a petition for variance
from Rule 407(b)
of the Board’s Water Pollution Control Regulations.
Variance is requested to allow the District to continue to discharge
effluent from its Main Sewage Treatment Plant containing concen-
trations of phosphorus
as P in excess of the 1.0 mg/i standard.
The effluent is discharged into the Fox River.
On February
4,
1976 the Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency)
filed
a
Recommendation that this Board grant the District a variance until
December
1,
1976,
subject to the condition that phosphorus effluent
concentration not be allowed to exceed the levels achieved in
1975.
On February 19,
1976, Citizens For A Better Environment filed
a
letter with this Board urging the adoption of the Agency’s recommenda-
tion in this matter.
The District is presently in the process of upgrading and
expanding
its present facility which consists of a 61 MGD Imhoff
Tank,
and fixed nozzle Biological Filter plant, and a 2.5 MGD
activated sludge plant.
Upon completion,
scheduled for May of
1977, the plant will be a
17.0 MGD activated sludge plant with
phosphorus removal facilities and microstrainers
for advanced
treatment.
The phosphorus removal equipment
is scheduled to
be in operation during November of 1976.
There
is no question
raised as to the ability of the completed plant to comply with
the limitations of Rule 407(b)
The only issue posed in this case
is whether compliance
with Rule 407(b) would place
an arbitrary and unreasonable
hardship upon the district.
In essence, the question is whether
there is any practical interim phosphorus removal method.
The
20_407
—2—
District states that a temporary phosphorus removal facility would
cost $40,000 and would enable the Main Plant to meet the phosphorus
standard during only
three months of
1976.
After that time,
the
temporary equipment would have to be taken out of service, dismantled
and scrapped.
Therefore, the construction of such a facility should be
required only if this Board determines that substantial environmental
damage would result from the District’s failure to comply with
Rule 407(b).
In its Petition, the District states that since there
is question as to the level of phosphorus removal required
to
eliminate algae growth,
the granting of a variance would not cause
any injury to the public.
On page
6 of
its Recommendation,
the
Agency calculates that the District’s discharge represents
a 7.6
percent increase of phosphorus to the Fox River.
This
is indeed
a significant contribution to the phosphorus load of the Fox River.
However, the Board has recognized the need for further research
on the causes of algae in the Fox River
(Aurora Sanitary District
v.
EPA, PCB 72—276, January
9, 1975).
Given the high cost and short period of usefulness
of an interim facility and the relative nearness of the date of
completion for the permanent removal facility the Board finds that
a variance
is appropriate
in this matter.
As the District has
given no reasons why it requires this variance to extend some
five months beyond the scheduled date of operation for the
phosphorus removal facility,
the Board will grant the District
a variance until December
1,
1976.
Further, there is no reason
shown why the District could not, during the period of this
variance, maintain its phosphorus effluent concentration at
or below the 4.9 mg/i average attained in 1975.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of
law.
ORDER
The Sanitary District of Elgin is hereby granted a variance
from Rule 407(b)
of the Board’s Water Pollution Control Regulations
for its Main Plant until December
1, 1976,
subject to the condition
that the District shall maintain its phosphorus effluent concentra-
tion at or below 1975 levels.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted on the
~~day
of March,
1976 by a vote of
_____________________
Chris~anL. Moffet
erk
Illinois Pollution
trol Board
20—408