ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

October 16, 1975

NORTH SHORE SANITARY DISTRICT,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 75—302

ENVIRON~4ENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND

ORDER

OF THE BOARD (by

Mr. Goodman):

This

case

arises

upon North Shore Sanitary Districtvs

(NSSD)

petition, filed July 30, 1975, to lift the sewer ban

presently imposed on its

Clavey

Road Sewage Treatment Plant

or,

in the alternative, for a one year extension of a

cur-

rent

variance for additional connection permits. An Agency

Recommendation in

favor of

lifting the sewer ban was filed

September 4, 1975. No hearing has been held.

The history of this case dates back to the imposition

of a comprehensive sewer ban in League of Women Voters,

etal. v. North Shore Sanitary District, PCB 70—7, 12, 13,

14, 1 PCB 369 (1971). That sewer ban prohibited all new

sewer connections to NSSD~s facilities. In subsequent Board

Order PCB 71-343,

3

PCB 541 (1972)

,

as amended

3

PCB

697

(1972), the Board granted a variance to its original Order

allowing NSSD to add 20,000 P.E. to its Clavey Road and

Waukeqan Plants, This variance was based upon a showing

that capacity could be increased by the interim use of

chemical

additives and a new lagoon at the Clavey Road

Plant. Of the

20,000 connections allowed, 1/3 were allotted

to the Clavey Road Plant.

One year later NSSD requested a variance to enable it

to authorize an additional 2,500 permits (10,000 P.E,)

for

its Clavey Road Plant. After initial opposition by the

Agency, a joint Stipulation was filed calling for an addi-

tional 2,000 permits based on several qualifications. These

cual:Lfications gave the target dates for completion of

certain projects as follows:

f~ehruary 1,

1974

Highland Park Lakefront Interceptor

July 1, 1974

Overflow Treatment Fadilities at Clavey

Road Plant

November 1, 1974 Frret Phase at ~iidd1e Fork Interceptor

Sewer.

19— ~O2

---

—2—

The Board granted this variance, based on these quali-

fications, as of January 10, 1974 (PCB 73—134, 10 PCB 605).

On September 20, 1974, NSSD sought an extension of

time

for

that variance and, in the alternative, a complete lifting of

the ban. On January 9, 1975, the Board granted the variance

for one additional year for the unused balance of the re-

maining P.E. We refused to lift the

ban

completely, however,

noting that of the above listed qualifications only the

Highland Park Interceptor had been completed. In the instant

petition NSSD alleges that all conditions established by the

Board as reasons for the sewer ban have

now

been met. The

Agency Recommendation confirms that each of the conditions

precedent to the lifting of the

sewer

ban have now been

completed, including construction of the

Middle

Fork Inter-

ceptor.

The design average flow of the Clavey Road Plant is

17.8 MGD. As we noted in our Order of January 9, 1975, the

recorded plant flows range from 5.8

MGD

to 15.7 MGD. The

Agency notes in its Recommendation that the NPDES permit

issued to the Clavey facility on December 24, 1974, requires

HOD and suspended solids standards of 15 and 20 mg/l re-

spectively until December 14, 1976, whereupon standards of

10 and 12 mg/l must be

met.

Effluent from the plant flows

into the Skokie Drainage Ditch. Monthly operating reports

HOD (mq/l)

Date

Flow (MGD) Raw Final Raw Final

July, 1975

10.62

18

27

June,

1975

14.29

32

20

May, 1975

13.37

318

15

1200

9

April, 1975

18.7

115

16

354 22

March, 1975

13.7

55

19

95 10

Feb., 1975

12.8

80

18

127 17

Jan., 1975

11.6

91

16

173 13

The Agency asserts that although.the 15/20 standards

are not being

met

consistently, the plant capacity has not

yet been reached and additional loadings below capacity

should have little adverse effect on effluent quality.

Based upon the above facts, it now appears that an

entire lifting of the ban

may

be achieved without a sig-

nificant deterioration in the quality of treatment avail—

able. Final completion of the required qualifications

(specifically, the Highland Park Lakefront Interceptor, the

19—103

---

—3—

Midd~e Fork Interceptor) at long last means that adequate

sewage treatment will, be available for the Clavey Road area

in the immediate future and until design capacity is again

reached. The Board is therefore of the opinion that the

outright ban, having served its purpose, is now unnecessary.

Until such time as this is no longer true, routine Agency

permit requirements should be adequate to insure a rational

policy of load expansion and to prevent a reoccurrence of

the problems which made the ban necessary in the first

place.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and

conclusions of law of the Board in this matter.

ORDER

rphe

sewer ban imposed by the Board on North Shore

Sanitary District in PCB 70-7, 12, 13, 14 is hereby revoked

as it pertains to the Clavey Road Sewage Treatment Plant.

Mr. Young abstained.

I. Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the IillflOjS Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinio and Order

were adopted on the

/~‘~

day of

_______________

i975byavoteof~3_~

C ristan L. ~o fet lerk

Illinois Pollution ntrol Board

,~9—_~o4