ILLINOIS POLLUTION

CONTROL BOARD

January 31,

1974

LEWIS UNIVERSITY,

Petitioaer,

PCB

73~475

Respondent.

OPINION AND OREER OF THE BOARD (by Nr~

Henss)

Lewis

University

flied its Petition for Variance on November 8,

1973 requesting relief from Rule 404(f) of the Illinois Water

Pollution Control Regulations.

Upon motion of both parties, hearing

was waived and decision will be made on the documents presented

Petitioner is a private university consisting of several

colleges located within the corporate limits of Lockport, Will

County, Illinois.

Petitioner owns and operates its own sewage

treatment plant which provides treatment of all domestic waste

water generated by the University~s 2500 students~ The plant

consists of a contact stabilization

urit with chlorination,

sludge

storage and flow measurement devices~ Petitioner estimates that

the plant treats about 100,000 to 1..05,000 gallons of seaage per

day hiving an influent concentration

of about 260 mg/I BOD and 106

mg/I suspended solids,

Discharge frcm the plant enters an unnamed

ditch tributary to the Des Plaines River~

Data submitted by Petitione~: he Agency, as shown below,

indicates

that

Petitioner

~,

plant is capable of operating in

compliance with Rule 404~a):

Suspended Solids

Date

~jm/12

Sept~ 1973

10

Aug~

1973

July

1973

11

As of December

31,

1973 Petitioner must comply with Rule 404(f)

which requires an effluent containing not more th-an 4

in

q/1

BOD

---

and 5 mg/l suspended so1ids~ Although Petitioner filed a Com~

pliance Plan with the Agency in February 1973 which indicated

that compliance would be achieved by the end of 1973, Petitioner

later detcmined that this deadline could not be met~

Lewis University officials have participated in numerous

negotiations with the City of Lockport in order to induce Lockport

to furnish sewer and water facilities to the University~ The

University is located entirely on the west side of the Des Plaines

River while Lockport proper is located on the east side of the

River, Because of this natural barrier, Petitioner states that

Lockuort has never been and will not in the foreseeable future be

in a position to furnish sewage and water services to the University~

Two methods of achieving compliance are available to Petitioner,

One of these methods is to obtain sewer services from the Village

of Romeoville rather than the City of Lockport. The University

would

have to disconnect from Lockport, through litigation, and

subsequently annex to Romeoville. Petitioner filed its Petition

for Disconnection in the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial

Circuit in July 1973, It is anticipated that trial on the petition

will be held sometime during January 1974.

If the Petition for Disconnection is successful, Lewis

University will immediately annex to the Village of Romeoville,

Romeoville Mayor Dewey Chambers advised Petitioner of the Village’s

willingness and capability to provide water and sewer service con~

tingent upon the disconnection from Lockport and subsequent annex-~

ation by the Village. (Petitioner Exhibit B) Connection to the

Romeoville sanitary system allegedly could be completed within

three months after annexation, A supporting document filed by the

consulting engineering firm of R. N. Robinson and Associates states

that the sewage treatment plant to which the UniversIty would

connect has a current capacity of 1.5 million gallons per day and

carries only 0,75 million gallons per day. (Petitioner Exhibit C)

The second. method for achieving compliance would be to add a

tertiary filtration system to the University’s existing sanitary

system. The new equipment would cost about $55,000. Petitioner

alleges that an ordef requiring immediate installation of the new

equipment could place an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship upon

the University since Petitioner is facing the same financial

difficulties that have caused the failure of other institutions

of

higher learning throughout the country. Petitioner states that

it is barely operating within its budget and that only the most

careful handling of its available funds will insure its success

in the future.

---

As a showing of good faith, Petitioner pledges immediate

action on

the

installation

of

the tertiary filtration system in

the

event their Petiti.on for Disconnection from Lockport is

denied, Further, Petitioner pledges to achieve compliance either

through the additional equipment at its own treatment plant or

by

connection to the Romeoville plant no later than December 31,

1974,

If

annexation to Romeoville is accomplished, Lewis University

will be connecting to Romeoville~sNo. 2 plant. Agency data

indicates that this plant

was

operating in apparent compliance

with

the

Standards of Rule 404(a) as

of

October 1973, However,

Romeoville

must

upgrade this plant by December

31,

1974

in order

to

be in compliance with the requirements

of

Rule 404(f), The

Agency stated that Romeoville had not filed a Project Completion

Schedule by December 6, 1973 and the Agency had not been informed

of any plans

to upgrade this facility.

In

its

Recommendation

the

Agency recommended granting

the

variance subject to the following conditions:

A, Petitioner is not to make any connection to the

Romeoville plant until Romeoville

files an

approved Project Completion Schedule with

the

Agency

indicating timely compliance with all

applicable rules and regulations, and

B. Petitioner is to proceed with the upgrading

of its

own plant

to comply with Rule 404(f)

no

later than December 31, 1974 in the event

the Romeoville connection cannot be made.

Petitioner has filed an Amended Petition in which it agrees

to the

conditions proposed in the Agency’s Recommendation, However,

we feel it

is not appropriate

to

adopt the first condition, The

Romeoville plant

is in compliance with the standard and there is

no

evidence to indicate

that this situation will change

in the future,

It would not be proper for us to prohibit the sewer connection on

this state of the record.

We believe that Petitioner has made its case for a variance,

h.as shown good faith in its efforts to achieve compliance in the

past and apparently ,continues to do so. If the connection to the

Romeoville plant is allowed, Petitioner will be in a better position

to assure adequate services for those who will enroll at the

University in the future. The connection to Romeoville should

provide a more efficient means of waste treatment. We shall grant

Petitioner the variance subject to the second condition recommended

by the Agency and

agreed

to by Petitioner.

11 —107

---

The record does not show whether Petitioner has

explored

the Pfeffer exception~ as a method

of establishing

compliance

with

the Regulation (See Rule 404(1) (ii)

,

This Rule may be

available, depending

on the capacity for

reaeration of the

ditch

to which Lewis University discharges

its effluent.

It

is the Order of the Philution

Control Board that Lewis

University be

granted a

variance from Rule

404(f) of the Illinois

Water Pollution Control Regulations until December

31, 1974

subject to

the following condition~

In the event a connection to the Village of

Romeoville

cannot be made, Lewis University

shall

proceed immediately to upgrade its treatment

plant to comply with Rule 404(1) no later

than

December 31, 1974.

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify the above Oninion and Order was adopted

thas

day of

~

~974

by a vote