ILLINOIS
POLLUTION
CONTROL BOARD
April
15,
1982
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
)
AGENCY,
Complainant,
PCB 79—127
CITY OF MARQUETTE HEIGHTS,
a municipal corporation,
)
Respondent.
WILLIAM
E.
BLAKNEY, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON
BEHALF OF THE COMPLAINANT.
WILLIAM F. MORRIS, TEPLITZ
& MORRIS, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF
THE RESPONDENT.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by
I.
Goodman):
This matter comes before the Board on the June 20,
1979
Complaint brought by the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency (Agency).
The
Complaint alleged that the Respondent,
the
City of Marquette Heights
(City),
improperly operated its
municipal sewage treatment facility (facility)
by exceeding
the fecal
coliforrn bacteria limits of
its NPDES Permit and
failing to:
(1) provide auxiliary power at its two lift
stations;
(2) conduct routine maintenance on its flow meter;
(3) monitor and report influent and effluent BODç and
suspended solid levels;
(4) monitor and record
tife facility’s
actual total
flow;
(5) submit discharge monitoring
reports
to the Agency after July,
1978;
(6) maintain adequate water
sampling records; and
(7) promptly notify the Agency about
noncomplying discharges,
in violation of
Rules 401(c),
405,
501(c),
502, 601(a),
and 901 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution
Regulations
(Chapter 3) and Sections 12(a)
and 12(f)
of the
Illinois Environmental Protection Act
(Act).
The City did
not file any responsive pleadings to the Complaint.
Hearings
were held on September
2,
1981; September 10,
1981;
and January
18,
1982,
At the hearing of September
2,
1981, the Agency
withdrew the prior allegations
in the Complaint pertaining to
violations of fecal
coliform standards and failure to file
discharge monitoring reports.
(R.
4-5),
Although various
witnesses testified during the hearings on September 2,
1981
and September 10,
1981,
the parties, at the close of the
September 10, 1981 hearing, decided to negotiate a stipulated
settlement and asked that the hearing be reconvened
at a later
46~8
7
—2--
date.
(R.
237—239).
At the hearing of January
18,
1982, the
parties
indicated that they had reached
a mutually satisfactory
agreement.
The parties filed their Stipulation and Proposal for
Settlement on January 18,
1982.
Since the settlement agreement
is not inconsistent with the testimony, there
is no reason why
the Board should not therefore consider the Stipulation.
The City owns and operates a sewage treatment plant
in
Tazewell County,
Illinois which discharges effluent into the
Illinois
River pursuant to NPDES Permit No.
1L0029777.
The
plant, which serves about
3,200 persons, has a design average
flow of 0.5 MGD.
The Respondent’s sewage treatment system
includes the plant itself,
“seven drying beds with total square
footage of 13,000 sq.
ft., two lift stations, and separate
sanitary sewers”.
(Stip.
1-2).
Although the units designed
and iristalled to provide secondary treatment have not been
operated, the plant’s equipment includes
“a comminutor/bar
screen,
a primary clarifier, an activated sludge unit,
a
secondary clarifier,
an anerobic digester,
and chlorination”.
(Stip.
2).
It is stipulated that “the sewage treatment plant
~~iasconstructed in 1948 by a private developer who operated
said system through 1963 when it was purchased by the City,
at which time the City assumed operation of the plant”.
(Stip.
2).
The City maintains that, because the private developer
never operated any of the secondary treatment equipment, the
equipment was, due to “prior non—use”, deteriorated and
ineffective after 1963.
(Stip.
2).
Nonetheless, the Agency
placed the Respondent’s sewage treatment plant on restricted
status on December
6,
1976, “for failure to provide secondary
treatment or its equivalent”.
(Stip.
3).
The parties have indicated that “the long term solution
to city’s municipal sewage treatment problems lies in the
completion and operation of the proposed Creve Coeur—Marquette
Heights Regional Sewage Treatment Plant”.
(Stip.
5;
see:
IEPA
v. Village of Creve Coeur,
PCB 79-218,
January
8,
1981).
However,
until such a regional treatment facility is completed,
the
parties have developed
a detailed compliance program and schedule
to alleviate the short term environmental problems which have
been encountered.
(Stip.
5—9).
The proposed settlement agreement provides that the City
shall:
(1)
install the appropriate tees and valves
at the
force mains
of its two lift stations to enable it to use the
trailer mounted portable pump;
(2)
evaluate the effectiveness
of its present chlorination system by taking effluent samples
at the river outfall whenever possible, performing the necessary
sampling and tests,
and installing a diffuser
in the primary
tank for the purpose of chlorination,
if necessary;
(3)
supply
sufficient manpower to achieve proper operation, maintenance,
and record keeping at the facility, including monthly flow
meter calculations and all records required by its NPDES
46—88
—3—
Permit;
(4) begin to report raw influent test data by submit-
ting a second discharge monitoring report form sheet;
(5)
take
composite samples in a specified manner;
(6) conduct a compre-
hensive sludge management program; and
(7)
pay a stipulated
penalty
of $1,500.
(Stip.
5—10).
The Board finds the settle-
ment agreement acceptable under Procedural
Rule 331
arid Section
33(c)
of
the Act and finds that the Respondent has violated
Rules
401(c),
405,
501(c),
502,
601(a),
and 901 of Chapter
3 and
Sections 12(a) and 12(f)
of the Act.
The City will he ordered
to pay the stipulated penalty of $1,500 to aid
in the enforcement
of the Act.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings
oi~
fact and
conclusions of law
in this matter.
ORDER
1.
The Respondent,
the City of Marquette Heights, has
violated Rules
401(c),
405,
501(c),
502,
601(a),
and 901 of
Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Regulations and Sections 12(a)
and 12(f) of the Illinois Environmental Protection
Act.
2.
Within 45 days of the date of this Order, the City
of Marquette Heights shall, by certified check or money order
payable to the State of
Illinois, pay the stipulated penalty
of
$1,500 which is to be sent to:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Fiscal Services Division
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, Illinois
62706
3.
The Respondent shall comply with all the terms and
conditions
of the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement
filed on January 18,
1982, which is incorporated by reference
as
if fully set forth herein.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I,
Christan L.
Moffett,
Clerk
of
the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify that the abo e Opinion and Order
were adopted q~
theJ~±
day
of
______
,
1982
by a vote of ~.-O
Christan
L. Moffe
Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
46—89