ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL B02\RD

March 25, 1976

LEWIS UNIVERSITY,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 75—504

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Zeitlin):

The matter before us here is the third Variance Petition

concerning a sewage treatment plant operated by Petitioner Lewis

University, a private university in Will County, Illinois. In

the instant case Lewis University asks that the

relief granted

in PCB 74—478, 16 PCB 137 (March 13, 1975), from the requirements

of Rule 404(f) of the Board’s Water Pollution Regulations (BOD and

Suspended Solids) be extended until December 31, 1976. (The

University’s previous Variance expired on December 31, 1975.)

PCB

Regs., Ch. 3: Water Pollution, Rule 404(f) (1972). No hearing was

held in this matter; a Recommendation from the Environmental

Protection Agency (Agency) was received on February 9, 1976.

Lewis University’s first Variance Petition was filed on

November 8, 1973. In that case, PCB 73—475, 11 PCB 105 (Jan. 31,

1974), the Board found that it would indeed be a hardship to require

that Lewis University upgrade its sewage treatment plant to provide

tertiaryand

5 mg/itreatmentsuspendedso solidsthat

itrequirementscould meet theof

Ruleapplicable404 (f).

4 mg/i(The BOD5

operations, capacity and performance of the University’s sewage

treatment plant are fully described in PCB 73—475 and PCB 74—478,

and need not be reiterated here.) Based on that finding, the Board

approved the University’s plan to disannex from the City of Lockport,

which was allegedly unable to provide sewage treatment for the

University, and to annex to the Village of Romeoville, which had

agreed to provide such treatment if annexation could be accomplished.

The University’s suit against Lockport for disannexation was at that

time pending in the Circuit Court. The Variance in PCB 73-475 was

granted until December 31, 1974, with the expectation that the dis-

annexation suit would be settled expeditiously.

20 —409

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—2—

In its Petition in PCB 74—478, Lewis University asked for further

extension of its variance based on delays in trial court adjudication

of its disannexation from Lockport. The Board again found the

University’s hardship, when balanced against the relatively good

performance of its sewage treatment plant, to be sufficient for the

grant of a Variance, this time until December 31, 1975.

In the instant Petition (PCB 75-504) Lewis University noted that

the Circuit Court of Will County had allowed the University’s dis-

annexation petition on April 3, 1975. However, the City of Lockport

had appealed to the Appellate Court (3rd District); that appeal was

denied on September 9, 1975. Lockport’s Petition for Rehearing was

also denied by the Appellate Court on October 7, 1975. Subsequently,

the City of Lockport filed a Petition for Leave to Appeal with the

Supreme Court of Illinois.

The Agency Recommendation in this matter, received Feb. 9, 1976,

again supports a further grant of the University’s variance, until

December 31, 1976. As conditions to such a grant, the Agency asked

that the Board require that Lewis University retain a properly certified

operator for its treatment plant, for so long as the plant remains

functional and, as in the prior cases, that the University be required

to make all reasonable effort to further reduce concentrations of BOD

and suspended solids in its effluent. The Agency also asked for conditi

requiring early connection of the University to the Village of Rorneovi1.~,

should the University’s disannexation suit prevail in the Supreme Court,

or the immediate upgrading of its sewage treatment plant, should its

suit not prevail.

These last conditions, as suggested in the Agency Recommendation,

are no longer applicable. We take notice of the fact that the Illinois

Supreme Court has denied the City of Lockport’s Petition for Leave to

Appeal. Lewis University, et. al v. City of Lockport, Docket No. 47994

(January 23, 1976).

The hardship found in the two earlier Opinions remain. The

University’s compliance plan now appears to be finally ready for

immediate implementation. The Agency Recommendation notes that Lewis

University has, as required in the previous cases, made every reasonable

effort under the preceding variances to reduce the BOIJ and suspended

solids concentration in its effluent. It had additionally made the

reports required under those variances. In addition, for the months

of April through December, 1975, the University’s average BOD5 and

suspended solids concentrations were 12 and 10 mg/i respectively

(Rec., p.5).

20_ 410

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—3—

Balancing this performance of the University’s sewage treatment

plant against the continuing hardship, in light of an acceptable

compliance plan, we shall again grant the requested Variance. The

Order will reflect our expectation that the University will immediately

commence implementation of its compliance plan, and that this matter

may thus be resolved without further need of Variance relief.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions of

law of the Board in this matter.

ORDER

IT IS THE ORDER OF THE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD that Lewis

University be granted a Variance from Rule 404(f) of Chapter 3: ~1ater

Pollution, of the Pollution Control Board’s Rules and Regulations for

the period December 31, 1975 to and including December 31, 1976, subject

to the following conditions:

1. Petitioner shall retain a properly certified

treatment plant operator for its sewage treatment plant

for so long as such plant remains functional.

2. Petitioner shall continue to make all reasonable

efforts to reduce the concentrations of BOD~and suspended

solids in the effluent from its sewage treatment plant.

3. Petitioner shall, within ninety (90) days of

the date of this Order, apply to the Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency for all permits necessary for the

construction of any facilities needed to connect its

present sewage system to the facilities of the Village

of Rorneoville.

4. Petitioner shall commence construction of

all facilities necessary for the connection of its

present sewage system to the facilities of the Village

of Romeoville, under appropriate Agency permits, within

one hundred eighty (180) days of the date of this Order.

Nr. James Young abstained.

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

Control Board, her~JD~certify the ove Opinion and Order were

adopted on the ~ day of

I)’)

,

1976, by a vote of

~3-o

C ristan L. o ett, er

Illinois Pollution trol Board

20