ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
June 18,
1976
VILLAGE OF TOWER HILL,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 76—101
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Young):
This matter comes before the Board on the petition of the
Village of Tower Hill filed April
14,
1976 seeking variance from
Rules
203(c)
and 402 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Rules and
Regulations as regards phosphorus.
On May 19,
1976,
the Agency
filed a Recommendation in this matter; no hearing was held.
The Village of Tower Hill is located in Shelby County and
has a population of 683 people.
At the present time the Village
has no collection system or municipal sewage treatment facilities.
Sewage treatment currently consists of individual septic tanks
and tile fields.
The Village
is presently awaiting Agency approval
of its Step
I Facilities Plan for the construction of a sanitary
sewage system and waste treatment facilities.
The proposed treatment facilities are designed to receive
an average flow of
.08 MGD and consist of a three—cell lagoon
with diffused aeration,
submerged sand filter, and chlorination.
The discharge from the proposed facility will he tributary to
Mitchell Creek,
a tributary of the Kaskaskia River which is tribu-
tary to the Carlyle Reservoir.
Rule 203(c)
sets
a standard of 0.05 mg/i for phosphorus as
P
in any reservoir or lake, or in any stream
at
the point
where
it
enters any reservoir or lake and
Rule
402 requires that
the
Village’s effluent not contribute to a violation
of
the Rule
203
(c) water quality standard.
The phosphorus concentrat:Lon
in the
Kaskaskia River as it enters the Carlyle Reservoir presently ex~-
ceeds
.05 mg/i;
therefore,
the Villag&s effluent
is water quality
limited to the Rule 203(c)
standard of .05 mg/i phosphorus.
If
the Village’s proposed treatment facility does not meet
the
.05
mg/l standard of Rule 203(c),
the Agency cannot issue a constructio~
permit unless the Village first obtains a variance from the Board.
22—181
—2—
In order to meet the 203(c)
standard, the Village would
have to install phosphorus removal facilities estimated to
cost $118,000.00 with a yearly maintenance cost of $2,500.00.
The Village has also considered two other alternatives to
phosphorus removal.
Under one alternative the feasibility of
discharging the effluent in the adjacent Sangamon Watershed
was studied.
Approximately
8 miles of force main would be re-
quired for this alternative with the project estimated to cost
nearly $450,000.00.
The other alternative considered is the
disposal of the effluent on land through an irrigation system.
This alternative is estimated to cost $205,000.00 with annual
operating costs estimated to be nearly $13,000.00.
The
Village
alleges that an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship would be
placed on the Village if it were required to use any of these
methods to control their phosphorus discharge and, therefore,
seeks this variance so that the proposed treatment plant can be
installed with the help of State/Federal grant funds.
The Agency submits that the average phosphorus concentra-
tion of normal domestic sewage is approximately 10 mg/i; there-
fore the Village’s proposed facility will discharge approximately
6.7 lbs/day phosphorus.
In the USEPA National Eutrophication
Survey Report on Carlyle Reservoir an annual total phosphorus
loading of 698,050
lbs/year to Carlyle Reservoir is estimated.
Based on this data,
the Village’s proposed treatment plant would
result in only a 0.34
increase in phosphorus loading.
On January
5,
1976,
the Agency filed a Petition for Regula-
tory Change
(R76-l) with the Board which would amend the Regula-
tions by requiring only point sources who have 1500 or more
population equivalent to treat wastewater to a level not to ex-
ceed
1 mg/i phosphorus prior
to discharge.
As justification for
this proposal the Agency submits that eutrophication studies by
both the tJSEPA and the Illinois State Water Survey show that the
contribution of point source dischargers to the total phosphorus
problem of lakes and reservoirs is small compared to the non-point
source contribution.
The Agency submits that non-point sources,
such as run—off waters
from farm lands fertilized with phosphate
base fertilizers, account for the overwhelming majority of the
phosphorus loading of most lakes and reservoirs.
The Village alleges that they will suffer an unreasonable
hardship if the Board denies this variance request,
a denial
which would prevent the Village from utilizing State/Federal
grant funds
to assist in the construction of a much needed sewage
treatment plant.
In light of aforesaid studies and the small
contribution that the Village’s discharge will make to the Carly~e
Lake phosphate problem,
the Board is disposed to grant the relief
requested.
The Board will require, however, that the Village
design and construct the sewage treatment plant to allow for the
possible future installation of appropriate phosphorus removal
facilities.
22—182
—3—
This
Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
The Village of Tower Hill is granted a variance from
the
phosphorus limitations of Rules 203(c)
and 402 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Regulations until June 1, 1981,
subject to the
following conditions:
1.
This variance will terminate upon adoption
by
the Board
of any modification of the existing phosphorus water quality
standards and effluent limitations and the Village of Tower Hil.
shall comply with such revised regulations when adopted by the
Board.
2.
The sewage treatment plant shall be designed and con-
structed to allow for the possible future installation of appro-
priate phosphorus removal facilities, and
3.
Within 35 days of the date of this Order,
Petitioner shall
submit to the Manager, Variance Section, Division of Water Pollution
Control,
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
2200 Churchill
Road,
Springfield, Illinois,
62706, an executed Certification of
Acceptance and agreement to be bound to all terms and conditions
of the variance.
The form of said certification shall be as
follows:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We), __________________________
having read
the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 76-101,
understand and accept said Order,
realizing that such
acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto
binding and enforceable.
SIGNED
TITLE
DATE
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Con-
trol Board
hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted
on~the
j~
day of
—
,
1976 by a vote of
_______.
ris an
L. Mo.fett,
k
Illinois Pollution C
ol Board
22—183