ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May 16, 1996
NORTH SHORE SANITARY DISTRICT
(Waukegan Sewage Treatment Plant),
Petitioner,
v.
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
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PCB 96-234
(Provisional Variance - Water)
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS
5/35(b)), North Shore Sanitary District Waukegan Sewage Treatment Plant (North Shore) has
requested that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) recommend that the
Illinois Pollution Control Board (Board) grant a provisional variance to allow North Shore to
continue operating its Waukegan sewage treatment plant during a period of wastewater
treatment plant repairs. This provisional variance is being requested because North Shore
needs to make repairs to its pumping station thereby requiring that the plant’s effluent be
diverted to Lake Michigan instead of being pumped into the Des Plaines River. This request
for a provisional variance and the Notification of Recommendation was filed with the Board by
the Agency on Wednesday, May 15, 1996. Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act, the Board
must issue the variance within two (2) days of this filing.
Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant North Shore a forty-five (45)-day
provisional variance for its facility located in Lake County from the effluent discharge
standards as it relates to phosphorus as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b) and from the
standards as it relates to allowing a change in the normal discharge point as set forth in 35 Ill.
Adm. Code 309.102. This forty-five (45)-day provisional variance shall commence when the
petitioner begins repairs to the wastewater treatment plant, by diverting effluent away from
Outfall 001 pumping station, and continuing until the petitioner returns the pumping station to
service, but not for longer than 45 days.
Upon receipt of the request, the Agency issued its recommendation, notifying the
Board that failure to grant the requested forty-five (45)-day provisional variance would impose
an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the petitioner.
Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary. The responsibilities of the
Agency and the Board in these short-term provisional variances are different from the
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responsibilities in standard variances. (See 415 ILCS 5/35(b) & 36(c)). In provisional
variances it is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical determinations and
finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship. The Board's responsibility is to adopt a formal
order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the enforceability of the
variance, and to provide notification of the action by a press release.
Having received the Agency recommendation notifying the Board that a denial of the
requested relief would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants
the petitioner a provisional variance for its Waukegan sewage treatment plant from 35 Ill.
Adm. Code 304.141(b) and 309.102, subject to the following conditions:
1.
The variance shall commence when effluent is diverted away from the Outfall
001 pumping station and shall continue for a period of forty-five (45)-days or until
repair work on the pumping station is completed, whichever occurs first;
2.
The effluent limits and monitoring requirements shall be in accordance with the
limitations of the NPDES Permit No. IL0030244 that apply to Outfall 001. In
addition, to these limits, North Shore shall meet phosphorus limits of 1.0 mg/l on a
monthly average and 2.0 mg/l on a daily maximum basis. North Shore shall monitor
for phosphorus five (5) times per week using composite samples.
3.
For the period of this provisional variance, North Shore shall submit progress
reports and sampling data on a weekly basis to the Agency. In addition, North Shore
shall immediately inform the Agency of any adverse circumstances that may arise
which could cause health or environmental concerns.
4.
For the period of this provisional variance, North Shore shall operate its
Waukegan wastewater treatment plant in a manner to produce the best effluent that is
possible.
5.
North Shore shall notify Chris Kallis at the Agency’s Maywood Regional Office
via telephone at (708) 338-7900 when the repairs to the pumping station begin and
when the pumping station is returned to service. Written confirmation of each
notification shall be sent within five (5) days to the following address;
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
Attention: Mark T. Books
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North Shore shall execute a copy of a Certificate of Acceptance of this provisional
variance and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the
above condition; North Shore shall forward that copy within ten (10) days of the date of this
order of the Board, and the Certificate of Acceptance shall take the following form:
CERTIFICATION
I (We),
, hereby accept and agree to be
bound by all terms and conditions of the order of the Pollution Control
Board in PCB 96-234, May 16, 1996.
________________________
Petitioner
________________________
Authorized Agent
________________________
Title
________________________
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1994)) provides for
the appeal of final Board orders within 35 days of the date of service of this order. The Rules
of the Supreme Court of Illinois establish filing requirements. (See also 35 Ill. Adm. Code
101.246 "Motions for Reconsideration.")
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
the above order was adopted on the _____ day of ___________, 1996, by a vote of
______________.
___________________________________
Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board