1
BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
IN THE MATTER OF:
)
)
WATER QUALITY STANDARDS AND
)
EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS FOR THE
)
R08-9
CHICAGO AREA WATERWAY SYSTEM
)
(Rulemaking – Water)
AND THE LOWER DES PLAINES RIVER:
)
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO 35 ILL.
)
Adm. Code Parts 301, 302, 303, and 304
)
NOTICE OF FILING
To:
John Therriault, Clerk
Stefanie N. Diers, Assistant Counsel
Illinois Pollution Control Board
Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency
1021 North Grand Avenue East
James R. Thompson Center
P.O. Box 19276
100 West Randolph St., Suite 11-500
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
Chicago, IL 60601
Marie Tipsord, Hearing Officer
Persons on the attached service list
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
100 West Randolph St, Suite 11-500
Chicago, Il 60601
Please take notice that today I filed with the office of the Clerk of the Pollution Control
Board
Prefiled Questions of the Natural Resources Defense Council to Charles P.
Gerba
, a copy of which is hereby served on you.
___________________________
Ann Alexander
Dated: August 22, 2008
Ann Alexander
Senior Attorney, Midwest Program
Natural Resources Defense Council
101 North Wacker Dr., Ste. 609
Chicago, IL 60606
312-780-7427
312-663-9920 (fax)
AAlexander@nrdc.org
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
2
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, Ann Alexander, the undersigned attorney, hereby certify that I have served the attached
Prefiled Questions of the Natural Resources Defense Council to Charles P. Gerba
on
all parties of record (Service List attached), by depositing said documents in the United
States Mail, postage prepaid, from 227 W. Monroe, Chicago, IL 60606, before the hour
of 5:00 p.m., on this 22nd Day of August, 2008.
___________________________________________
Ann Alexander, Natural Resources Defense Council
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
3
Service List
Richard J. Kissel and Roy M. Harsch
Drinker, Biddle, Gardner, Carton
191 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 3700
Chicago, IL 60606-1698
Bernard Sawyer and Thomas Granto
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
6001 West Pershing Road
Cicero, IL 60650-4112
Deborah J. Williams and Stefanie N. Diers
Assistant Counsel, Division of Legal Counsel
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
1021 North Grand Avenue East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
James L. Daugherty, District Manager
Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District
700 West End Avenue
Chicago Heights, IL 60411
Kevin G. Desharnais, Thomas W. Diamond
and Thomas V. Skinner
Mayer, Brown LLP
71 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606-4637
Tracy Elzemeyer, General Counsel
American Water Company Central Region
727 Craig Road
St. Louis, MO 63141
Robert VanGyseghem
City of Geneva
1800 South Street
Geneva, IL 60134-2203
Claire Manning
Brown, Hay & Stephens LLP
700 First Mercantile Building
205 South Fifth St., P.O. Box 2459
Springfield, IL 62705-2459
Matthew J. Dunn, Chief
Office of the Attorney General
Environmental Bureau North
69 West Washington, Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60602
Katherine D. Hodge and Monica T. Rios
Hodge Dwyer Zeman
3150 Roland Avenue
P.O. Box 5776
Springfield, IL 62705-5776
Charles W. Wesselhoft and James T. Harrington
Ross & Hardies
150 North Michigan Avenue
Suite 2500
Chicago, IL 60601-7567
Margaret P. Howard
Hedinger Law Office
2601 South Fifth Street
Springfield, IL 62703
Jerry Paulsen and Cindy Skrukrud
McHenry County Defenders
132 Cass Street
Woodstock, IL 60098
Keith I. Harley and Elizabeth Schenkier
Chicago Legal Clinic, Inc.
205 West Monroe, 4
th
Floor
Chicago, IL 60606
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
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William Richardson, Chief Legal Counsel
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
Fred L. Hubbard
Attorney at Law
16 West Madison
P.O. Box 12
Danville, IL 61834
Lisa Frede
Chemical Industry Council of Illinois
2250 E. Devon Avenue
Suite 239
Des Plaines, IL 60018-4509
W.C. Blanton
Blackwell Sanders LLP
4801 Main Street
Suite 1000
Kansas City, MO 64112
Sharon Neal
Commonwealth Edison Company
125 South Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60603
Traci Barkley
Prairie Rivers Networks
1902 Fox Drive
Suite 6
Champaign, IL 61820
James Huff, Vice-President
Huff & Huff, Inc.
915 Harger Road, Suite 330
Oak Brook, IL 60523
Georgie Vlahos
Naval Training Center
2601A Paul Jones Street
Great Lakes, IL 60088-2845
Cathy Hudzik
City of Chicago, Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
121 North LaSalle Street
City Hall – Room 406
Chicago, IL 60602
Dennis L. Duffield
Director of Public Works & Utilities
City of Joliet, Department of Public Works & Utilities
921 E. Washington Street
Joliet, IL 60431
Irwin Polls
Ecological Monitoring and Assessment
3206 Maple Leaf Drive
Glenview, IL 60025
Ann Alexander, Senior Attorney
Natural Resources Defense Council
101 North Wacker Drive, Suite 609
Chicago, IL 60606
Marc Miller, Senior Policy Advisor
Jamie S. Caston, Policy Advisor
Office of Lt. Governor Pat Quinn
Room 414 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Beth Steinhorn
2021 Timberbrook
Springfield, IL 62702
Frederick D. Keady, P.E., President
Vermillion Coal Company
1979 Johns Drive
Glenview, IL 60025
Dr. Thomas J. Murphy
DePaul University
2325 N. Clifton Street
Chicago, IL 60614
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
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Susan M. Franzetti
Nijman Franzetti LLP
10 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 3600
Chicago, IL 60603
Marie Tipsord, Hearing Officer
John Therriault, Assistant Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
100 West Randoph, Suite 11-500
Chicago, IL 60601-7447
Vicky McKinley
Evanston Environmental Board
223 Grey Avenue
Evanston, IL 60202
Stacy Myers-Glen
Openlands
25 East Washington, Suite 1650
Chicago, IL 60602
Albert Ettinger, Senior Staff Attorney, and Jessica Dexter
Environmental Law and Policy Center
35 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60601
Susan Hedman and Andrew Armstrong, Environmental Counsel
Environnmental Bureau
Office of the Illinois Attorney General
69 West Washington, Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60602
Tom Muth
Fox Metro Water Reclamation District
682 State Route 31
Oswego, IL 60543
Kenneth W. Liss
Andrews Environmental Engineering
3300 Ginger Creek Drive
Springfield, IL 62711
Jack Darin
Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter
70 E. Lake Street, Suite 1500
Chicago, IL 60601-7447
Bob Carter
Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District
P.O. Box 3307
Bloomington, IL 61702-3307
Kay Anderson
American Bottoms RWTF
One American Bottoms Road
Sauget, IL 62201
Ronald M. Hill and Margaret T. Conway
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
100 East Erie Street, Room 301
Chicago, IL 60611
Kristy A.N. Bulleit and Brent Fewell
Hunton & Williams LLC
1900 K. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Frederic P. Andes, Carolyn S. Hesse and David T. Ballard
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
One North Wacker Drive, Suite 4400
Chicago, IL 60606
Jeffrey C. Fort and Ariel Tescher
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
7800 Sears Tower
233 S. Wacker drive
Chicago, IL 60606-6404
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
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BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
IN THE MATTER OF:
)
)
WATER QUALITY STANDARDS AND
)
EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS FOR THE
)
R08-9
CHICAGO AREA WATERWAY SYSTEM
)
(Rulemaking – Water)
AND THE LOWER DES PLAINES RIVER:
)
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO 35 ILL.
)
Adm. Code Parts 301, 302, 303, and 304
)
PREFILED QUESTIONS OF NATURAL RESOURCES
DEFENSE COUNCIL TO CHARLES P. GERBA
The Natural Resources Defense Council hereby files questions to Charles P. Gerba:
1. Please describe your role in the Water Reclamation District’s Microbial Risk
Assessment study.
a. How many members were on the Senior Advisory Committee?
b. When was the Committee formed?
c. What was its official role?
d. Did the Committee review the study as it was ongoing? At what stages?
Did you personally participate in this review on a consistent basis?
e. Was the Committee involved in decisions concerning scope and
methodology? Did you personally participate in that decisionmaking
process?
2. Did you at any point disagree with decisions ultimately made by the researchers
concerning methodology, scope, or any other aspect of the Risk Assessment
study
?
3. Regarding your statement on p. 2 of your testimony that
pseudomonas aeruginosa
was selected for study in part because it “causes recreationally associated eye,
skin, and ear infections”; and on p. 3 that adenoviruses are a cause of ear nose,
throat and respiratory infections – did the Risk Assessment did calculate the risks
of these types of infections?
4. Regarding the statement on p. 5 of your testimony that disinfection “is warranted
in situations where direct human contact in the immediate vicinity of an outfall is
possible” -- do you have any basis to believe that recreation on the CAWS does
not occur in the immediate vicinity of the Water Reclamation District outfalls?
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
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5. Regarding the discussion on p. 5 of your testimony concerning disinfection
byproducts – are DBPs produced as a byproduct of chlorination? Does UV
disinfection create the same type and level of DBPs as chlorination?
6. What is the most common method of disinfection currently used in wastewater
treatment?
7. Are you familiar with USEPA health criteria governing disinfection byproducts?
8. Have there been any studies to your knowledge of the impact of disinfection
byproducts on recreational users?
9. How do you believe the risks from recreational exposure to microorganisms
would compare to the risks from DBPs?
10. Do you believe that disinfection is an effective way to reduce the concentrations
of microorganisms in water and wastewater?
11. Is chlorine used to disinfect swimming pools? Are you aware of research
concerning the concentration of trihalomethanes in swimming pools?
12. Are you familiar with the review of an interim version of the risk assessment
prepared by Tim Wade of USEPA? Did you ever have any discussions with Tim
Wade regarding his concerns?
13. What was the basis for selection of gastrointestinal illness as the sole risk to be
assessed? Is it your view that gastrointestinal illness is the predominant type of
illness associated with waterborne pathogens?
14. Approximately how many types of waterborne human pathogens are known to be
associated with sewage overall?
15. What were the bases for selection of the 8 different pathogens studied in the Risk
Assessment?
16. Did the risk assessment take into account populations that are potentially more
sensitive to pathogens, and may more easily become ill or suffer severe effects,
such as children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised persons?
17. Did the Risk Assessment find that upstream concentrations of pathogens were
generally lower than downstream concentrations during dry weather?
18. For purposes of assessing risk in the presence of disinfection, did you average the
upstream and downstream sampling concentrations?
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
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19. In assessing post-disinfection risk, did you also combine data from wet
and dry weather conditions?
20. Regarding the data in Table 5-8 – Describe how you arrived at these
numbers.
21. Is it possible that a waterbody that was perceived as cleaner than the
CAWS might receive heavier use for activities involving substantial body
contact with water?
22. Is it your understanding that waterborne pathogen levels can vary with the
degree of sunlight on the water? With the turbidity of the water? With the
temperature?
23. What was the basis for using dose-response data for echovirus was as a
surrogate for the dose-response behavior of adenovirus?
24. How did you disinfect your sampling equipment between collections?
25. How large were the samples you collected? What volume of each of
each of those samples did you typically analyze?
26. What primers were used for the calicivirus analyses? Which caliciviruses are
detected using those primers?
27. The Risk Assessment states that Blue Green Monkey Kidney cells were
used for the positive and negative virus control assays
28. What method was used to analyze samples for adenoviruses?
a. What serotypes of adenoviruses are detected using the cell culture
line you used?
b. What primers were used for the PCR analysis? What serotypes of
adenoviruses are detected using those primer?
29. Regarding Tables 3-5a through 3-5f of the Risk Assessment, the Risk Assessment
states that these present a summary of the total enteric virus analytical results
.
What method was used to detect enteric viruses?
30. Regarding the statement in the Risk Assessment that reverse transcription
polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results were used to calculate the
concentrations of noroviruses in the water samples -- how were these
calculations performed?
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008
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31. Did the secondary infection rates you used in your analysis change between the
interim dry weather risk assessment report completed in November, 2006 and the
final wet and dry weather risk assessment?
32. Did you use a Monte Carlo simulation in quantifying risk? Please
describe how that was done.
Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 22, 2008