ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

April 7, 1988

VILLAGE OF PECATONICA,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 88-64

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF TEIE BOARD (by J.D. Dumeile):

This provisional variance request comes before the Board

upon an April 6, 1988 Recommendation of the Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency (Agency). The Agency recommends

that because of an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship, the

Petitioner, Village of Pecatonica, be granted a provisional

variance, subject to certain conditions, from “its effluent

limits’t for the time that its secondary treatment process will be

out of service while repairs are made to the secondary clarifier

sludge collector mechanism.

Petitioner owns and operates wastewater treatment facilities

consisting of comminutor, raw sewage pumping, an aerated grit

chamber, a circular package type contact stabilization activated

sludge unit with integral secondary clarifier and aerobic

digester, tertiary lagoon, chlorination and flow measurement.

These facilities are designed for an average flow of 0.50 MGD

with effluent discharge to the Pecatonica River.

Petitioner is presently required by NPDES permit No.

IL003O57l to meet effluent limits of 30 mg/l for both BOD and TSS

as monthly average from its wastewater treatment facilities.

Petitioner has indicated that the sludge collector mechanism

in the bottom of the secondary clarifier has broken down which

has reduced the ability to return sludge to the contact

stabilization process or to waste excess sludge to the aerobic

digester. Petitioner desires to repair the sludge collector

mechanism and return the secondary treatment processes to normal

operation. Petitioner has indicated that in order to repair the

sludge collection mechanism in the secondary clarifier, the

secondary clarifier will need to be drained. In order to drain

the secondary clarifier the entire secondary treatment process

and the aerobic digester will need to be taken out of service

since the contact, reaeration, and aerobic digestion compartments

will need to be drained to an approximate water depth of 5 feet

in order to maintain the structural integrity of the steel

88—83

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partition between these compartments and the secondary clarifier

compartment.

Petitioner has indicated that clear water from the secondary

treatment and digestion units will be drained to the tertiary

lagoon. Sludge in excess of that deemed necessary for seed to

reestablish the contact stabilization process when the secondary

treatment units are returned to service will be applied to

farmland.

While the secondary treatment process is out of service,

Petitioner plans to treat the raw sewage via the aerated grit

chamber, chlorination prior to the tertiary lagoon, the tertiary

lagoon, and chlorination prior to discharge to the Pecatonica

River.

Petitioner requested the provisional variance for a period

of 30 days in order to repair the sludge collection mechanism and

return the secondary treatment process to normal stable

operation. According to the Agency, subsequent information from

Petitioner indicates that removal from service and draining of

the package unit is anticipated to begin on April 7, 1988.

Petitioner’s exceptations are that the nature of the needed

repair is some welding or repair/replacement of readily available

parts. Petitioner plans to inspect the entire sludge collection

mechanism while the facility is dewatered and anticipates

returning the secondary process to service within 3 to 5 days.

Petitioner has not requested any specific effluent limits

for its discharge while the secondary treatment process is out of

service. However, the Agency feels that since Petitioner will be

providing some treatment via the aerated grit chamber,

chlorination, and the tertiary lagoon, and considering the short

period of time that the secondary treatment is anticipated to be

out of service, that 60 mg/l for both BOD5 and TSS is reasonable.

Although Petitioner has not discussed alternatives to the

planned course of action nor the arbitrary and unreasonable

hardship involved per

Se;

the Agency considers Petitioner’s

course of action to be the most desirable and feasible one

possible due to the anticipated short period of time that the

secondary treatment process will be out of service and the

provisions Petitioner is making to provide partial treatment

during this time.

Furthermore, the Agency considers that denial of

Petitioner’s request will create an arbitrary and unreasonable

hardship upon Petitioner due to the fact that Petitioner has only

one set of secondary treatment units, the expediency with which

Petitioner desires to correct the problem, and the anticipated

short duration that the secondary treatment units will be out of

service.

88—84

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The Agency expects the environmental impact of granting

Petitioner’s request to be minimal for the following reasons: a)

wastewater will receive partial treatment prior to discharge, b)

any elevated concentration of BOD5 and TSS discharged will be of

short duration,

C)

during the requested period of the variance

flows in the receiving stream can be expected to be greater than

normal due to spring rains thus giving greater dilution

capability (based upon the average discharge of the Pecatonica

River upstream at Freeport and the average discharge from

Petitioner’s facilities over the past year the dilution ratio is

approximately 1720:1).

There are no downstream public water supplies which would be

adversely impacted by the granting of this variance.

There are no federal regulations which would preclude the

granting of this variance at this time for the period requested.

Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection

Act, the Board hereby grants the provisional variance as

recommended.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law in this matter.

ORDER

The Village of Pecatonica, Petitioner, is hereby granted a

provisional variance, subject to the following conditions:

a) This provisional variance shall commence

when Petitioner removes the secondary

treatment process from service and begins

dewatering it; and shall continue for a

period of 30 days or until the secondary

treatment process is returned to service

and is producing a normal stable

effluent, whichever occurs first.

b) During this provisional variance the

effluent from Petitioner’s treatment

andfacilityTSS asshall30 daybe averages.limited

to 60 mg/l BOD5

c) Petitioner shall notify Dennis Connor of

the Agency’s Rockford Regional Office via

telephone at 815/987—7755 when bypassing

of the clarifier is begun and when it is

returned to service. Written

confirmations of each notification shall

88—8 5

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be sent within 5 days to the following

addresses:

Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency

4302 North Main Street

Rockford, Illinois 61103

Attn: Dennis Connor

Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency

Compliance Assurance Section

2200 Churchill Road

P.O. Box 19276

Springfield, IL 62794—9276

d) During this provisional variance

Petitioner shall operate its wastewater

treatment facility so as to produce the

best effluent practicable. Additionally,

Petitioner shall perform the necessary

repair work on the clarifier as

expeditiously as possible so as to

minimize the period of time that it is

out of service.

e)

Within 10 days of the date of the Board’s

Order, Petitioner shall execute a

Certificate of Acceptance and Agreement

which shall be sent to the Springfield

address indicated above.

This variance shall be void if Petitioner

fails to execute and forward the certificate

within the ten day period. The ten day period

shall be held in abeyance during any period

that this matter is being appealed.

The form

of said Certificate shall be as follows:

88—86

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CERTIFICATE

I, (We), the Village of Pecatonica, having read the Order of

the Illinois Pollution Control Board, in PCB 88—64, dated April

7, 1988, understand and accept the said Order, realizing that

such acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto binding

and enforceable.

Petitioner

By: Authorized Agent

Title

Date

Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act, Ill. Rev.

Stat. 1875 ch. ll~L/2 par. 1041, provides for appeal of final

Orders of the Board within 35 days. The Rule of the Supreme

Court of Illinois establish filing requirements.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify Ehat the above Opinio and Order was

adopted on the

71~

day of ________________________, 1988,

byavoteof

7_-o .

Dorothy M. G nn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

88-87