ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
October 4
,
1978
CITY OF TROY,
)
Petitioner,
)
V.
)
PC? 78—182
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Young):
This matter cor~esbefore the Doard on a Petition filed on
July 7, 1978, by the City of Troy for a variance for two years
from i~u1es203(f) and 402 of Chapter 3: t’ater Pollution Regu—
lations, as each apolies to ammonia nitrogen. On September
29, 1973, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency filed
an Amended Recommendation which updated their original Recommenda-
tion of August 23, 1978. The Agency recommends that relief
should be granted from the applicable ammonia nitrogen require-
ments provided that Petitioner adhere to certain conditions, in-
cluding a commitment to install best practicable control tech-
nology when grant funds become available. No hearing was held
in this matter.
The City of Tray, located 20 miles east of St. Louis,
Missouri, in Madison County, Illinois, owns and operates a
sewage treatment plant with a design flow capacity of 1.0 million
gallons per day serving a population of 2818 people. Effluent
from this treatment plant is discharged to an intermittent tribu-
tary of Silver Creek which is upstream from the Kaskaskia River.
During 1972, the City of Troy completed a project with
federal grant funds to expand and improve the treatment capabilities
of their facility. The existing plant consists of a flow diversion
structure, a contact stabilization activated sludge package plant,
tertiary sand filters and improved chlorination facilities (Pet.
2, Rec. 1, 2). The upgraded facility was designed originally to
meet
the
l.5~mg/i ammonia nitrogen standard by breakpoint chlorina-
tion, but the Agency has since discouraged the use of breakpoint
chlorination for nitrogen removal on the basis that the residual
chlorine is harmful to aquatic life and that the process controls
required are beyond the usual capabilities found in small treatment
facilities (Pet. 3, Rec. 4, 5).
—2—
The City of Troy is currently preparing a Facilities Plan
with Step I funding under an amendment to their federal grant.
In March, 1973, the City of Tray was granted a Pfeffer Exemption
which according to their NPDES Permit IL 0031488 currently re-
quires that their discharge not exceed 10 mg/l DOD5 and 12 mg/i
suspended solids. However, the effluent monitoring reports of
the Agency and the Petitioner indicate that the City of Tray
treatment facility is not consistently meeting the 10/12 BOD5/SS
requirements, nor is the facility capable of achieving compliance
with the applicable ammonia nitrogen effluent and water quality
standards (Rec. 2, 3).
Rule 203(f) of Chapter 3 requires that the concentration of
ammonia nitrogen of
1.5
mg/i shall not be exceeded in Illinois
waters with certain exceptions not applicable here. In addition,
where downstream ammonia nitrogen standards will continue to be
in violation, the City of Troy will be required to meet the water
quality standards as an effluent limitation unless the City is
concurrently granted a variance from Rule 402 of Chapter 3.
Recently, the Board adopted a new Rule 402.1 effective July
27, 1978, as an exception to Rule 402. Rule 402.1 establishes
an interim ammonia nitrogen effluent limitation for discharges
to streams of this State. Without a variance from Rules 203(f)
(ammonia nitrogen) and
402,
Petitioner’s discharge from their
treatment plant would be required by Rule 402.1 to meet 1.5 mg/i
arimonia nitrogen effluent limitation in the summer (April through
October) and 4.0 mg/i for the remainder of the year provided that
Petitioner does not cause or contribute to a violation of the
ammonia
nitrogen water quality standard.
On July 27, 1977, the Agency collected water samples at
Petitioner~soutfall and at locations in the vicinity of Peti-
tioner’s discharge. Analysis revealed ammonia nitrogen effluent
concentrations of 48 mg/i from the Tray treatment facility with
instream ammonia nitrogen concentrations increasing from negligible
amounts upstream to a concentration of 40.5 mg/i, 1/4 mile down-
stream from Petitioner’s outfall (P.ec. 3). Petitioner contends
the ammonia nitrogen effluent concentrations which average 22.4
mg/i are typical for an activated sludge treatment plant which
is not employing nitroqen removal technology (Pet. 3, 4).
retitioner claims that immediate compliance with the
ammonia
nitrogen standards would impose an arbitrary and unreasonaJ~le
hardship. After preliminary review of nitrogen treatment tech-
nology, the City of Tray has indicated that two nitrogen conversion
facilities, an activated biofilter (packed bed reactor) and a
rotating biological disc at estimated costs of $500,000 and
$650,000 respectively would best lend themselves to the City’s
wastewater treatment facil!ty (Pet. 3).
31~~10
—3—
The Agency states that a variance should be granted pro-
vided that Petitioner include in any improvement program, the
best practicaI~1e technology pollution control equipment for the
removal of ammonia nitrogen. ~‘lhilethe Agency recommends a
variance for two years, it also notes that the City of Tray
with a priority number of 1044 will not he provided federal
funding for ammonia nitrogen removal for five years (Pec. 3, 5).
In a number of cases involving the ammonia nitrogen require-
ments prior to adoption of Rule 402.1, the Board has granted a
variance provided that Petitioner agree to install facilities to
achieve the minimum discharge of ammonia nitrogen consistent with
best practicable control measures as soon as grant funding was
made available. City of Canton, PCB 77-234 (November 23, 1977);
Village of Arthur, PCB 77—266 (December 20, 1977); Village of
Lake Zurich, PCB 78—89 (June 8, 1978).
In the matter before us, the !~oard finds that Petitioner
would suffer an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship if not granted
relief until federal grant funds become available. The Board
will hereby grant a variance to the City of Tray treatment plant
from Rule 203(f) as it applies to ammonia nitrogen and from Rule
402 for two years or when grant funds become available, whichever
occurs first.
The ~card will direct the Agency to modify Petitioner’s
NPDES
Permit IL 0031488 consistent with this Order pursuant
to Rule 914 of Chapter 3 to include interim effluent limitations
as may reasonably be achieved through application of best practi-
cable operation and maintenance practices in the existing facilities.
This Opinion constitutes the Doard’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
1. The City of Tray is granted a variance for the operation
of its treatment plant from Rules 203(f) and 402 of Chapter 3:
rater Pollution Rules and Regulations regarding ammonia nitrogen
until October 5, 1980, or when grant funds become available and
implemented, ~~‘hicheveroccurs first, and subject to
the
condition
that any plant improvement include the installation of the best
practicable technology pollution control equipment for ammonia
nitrogen removal.
2. The City of Tray shall continue to pursue grant funding
and shall meet all applicable grant deadlines.
3. Petitioner, within 30 days of the date of this Order,
shall request Agency modification of NPDES Permit IL 0031488
to incorporate all conditions of the variance set forth herein.
131-611
—4—
4. The Agency pursuant to Rule 914 of Chapter 3 shall
modify
NPDES Permit IL 0031488 consistent with the conditions
set forth in this Order including such interim effluent limita-
tions as may reasonably be achieved through application of best
practicable operation and maintenance practices in the existing
facilities.
5. ~iithinforty-five (45) days of the date of this Order,
the Petitioner shall submit to the Manager, Variance Section,
Division
of Water Pollution Control, Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency, 2200 Churchill Road, Springfield,
Illinois,
62706, an executed Certification
of Acceptance and Agreement
to be bound to all terms and conditions of the variance.
The
forty-five day period herein shall be stayed during judicial
review of this variance pursuant to Section 41 of the Environ-
mental Protection Act. The form of said certification
shall be
as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I, (~7e), ____________________________
having read
the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 78-182,
understand and accept said Order, realizing that such
acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto
binding and enforceable.
Signed
Title
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify the b ye Opinion and Order were
adopted
n the
Lft
day of ______________________, 1978 by a
vote of
~
Christan L. rIoff tt~, ClerJ:
Illinois Pol1utith~Control Board
-31-~12