ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    September 18, 1975
    MT. VERNON GUN AND SPORTSMAN CLUB
    )
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 75—228
    ENVIRONMENTAL PRO’IECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Dumelle):
    The Mt. Vernon Gun and Sportsman Club (Petitioner) filed a
    variance petition on June 30, 1975 seeking a variance from Rule 203(h
    of Chapter 3: Water Pollution Regulations. Petitioner seeks a variaj
    to treat Miller Lake with a fish toxicant, rotenone, as part of
    a fish management program. The Agency filed its Recommendation on
    August 28, 1975. No hearing was held.
    Petitioner is a recreational organization. It owns and uses
    Miller Lake, a 13. acre body of water for recreational purposes. The
    Lake is also used as a backup reservoir for the City of Mt. Vernon’s
    public water supply. Water from the Lake can reach the City’s
    water treatment plant either through pipes which connect the Lake
    to the Plant via another reservoir, Jaycee Lake, or through spiliway
    discharges pumped by a station to the treatment plant.
    Petitioner seeks to make one application of 20 gallons of
    5 percent rotenonc solution as a concentration of 0.1 parts per
    million in the share line area. Petitioner alleges that
    the solution dispersed throughout the Lake will be in trace
    amounts only. The Agency states in its Recommendation that
    the calculated average concentration would be .002 parts per
    million. The Agency also states that if any of the treated water
    were to reach the water treatment plant the level of rotenone would
    be in all probability, unineasurable.
    Petitioner alleaes that the planned application will have no
    clinic or acute affect on humans. The Agency Recommendation
    notes in agreement that the estimated lethal oral dose of rotenone
    for humans is 0.2 grams. The Agency also reports that rotenone
    is relatively harmless to non—target aquatic populations and
    deqrades generally within one to two weeks.
    18
    — 566
    —2—
    Petitioner states that the treated water of the Lake will be
    contained, as evaporation prior to the application will have lowered the
    surface of the Lake to several feet below the spiliway. The
    Agency recommends that despite the apparent absence of a health
    hazard from the level of rotenone in the treated water, the level
    of the Lake prior to the application should be sufficiently below
    the spiliway level sc as to prevent any unforeseen discharge. The
    Agency also recommends that the connection between Lake Miller and
    Jaycee Lake should b~valved off for two weeks after the rotenone
    application. These precautions should avoid any necessity for
    change of Mt. Vernon’s water treatment process during the application
    period.
    Petitioner fails to indicate whether the fish killed by the
    rotenone application will be removed from the Lake after the
    treatment. The Agency recommends that all fish killed by the
    treatment should be removed from the Lake and disposed of in a properly
    permitted landfill site.
    The Board finds that as the rotenone treatment proposed
    here is the only practicable method of fish population
    management, and no hazard to a public water supply is posed
    and given the precautions discussed above, an unreasonable
    hardship will be imposed on the Petitioner by a denial of a
    variance. Therefore, a variance from Rule 203(h) is granted
    to the Mt. Vernon Gun and Sportsman Club.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
    and conclusions of law.
    ORDER
    The Pollution Ccntrol Board hereby grants the Mt.
    Vernon Gun and Spo::tsman Club a variance from Rule 203(h) of
    Chapter 3 subject to the following.conditions:
    1. That the rotenone treatment of Miller Lake be
    limited to one application during the l975 calendar year.
    2. That the application of rotenone not exceed twenty
    gallons of solution of 5 percent liquid rotenone.
    3. That the application of rotenone be applied by
    personnel of the Illinois Department of Conservation.
    4. That the Agency be notified at least twenty-four
    hours prior to the time of application.
    5. That the Petitioner effectively remove all fish
    18 —567
    —3—
    killed by the rotenone treatment from Miller Lake and dispose
    of them in a perr~ittedlandfill site.
    6. That prior to the applicatin of the rotenone the
    surface level of Lake Miller be lowered, if necessary, to a
    level below the spiliway which will assure that no discharge
    of the treated water will occur; and that Petitioner assure
    that no water from Lake Miller is discharged by the connecting
    pipe to Jaycee Lake for a period of two weeks after the
    application of the rotenone solution.
    7. That Petitioner take a sample of its finished
    water three days after the application of rotenone to Miller
    Lake and forward a sample to the Agency for analysis.
    Petitioner shall also forward additional samples of its
    finished water as may be required by the Agency.
    IT IS SO ORDEPED.
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board, h re y certify the above Opinion and Order were
    adopted on the
    day of September, 1975 by a vote of
    3”O
    ~L.J!o~ilj’~)
    Christan L. Moffett, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
    18—
    568

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