ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
February 24,
1983
A.S,
HANSEN,
Inc.,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 8l-~l77
ILLINOIS
ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION
AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
MR.
VINCENT
LOMBARDI, SEMMELMAN AND LOMBARDI,
APPEARED ON
BEHALF
OF A.S.
HANSEN,
INC.;
MS. MARY DRAKE
APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY.
OPINION AND
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J.D, Dumelle):
This matter
comes before the Board
upon a November
6,
1981
petition for
variance filed by A.S.
Hansen,
Inc.
(Hansen).
Pursuant to a
more information order entered
November 19,
1981,
Hansen filed
an amended petition on January
13,
1982.
A recommen-
dation
to deny the requested variance was filed
by the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency)
on July 14,
1982 and
a
hearing
was held on that petition on July
15,
1982.
On Novem-
ber
1,
1982
Hansen moved for postponement of a
decision,
for
substitution
of attorneys
(James Warchall
of Sidley
and Austin
replaced
Vincent Lombardi)
and for leave
to file a
second amended
petition,
among other things.
Those motions
were granted by
Board Order
of
November 12,
1982 and a second
amended petition was
filed on
November
13, 1982, which requested a
second hearing.
Such
hearing
was authorized on December 30,
1982 and an amended
recommendation
that variance be granted
in part
was filed by the
Agency
on
January 19,
1983,
On the following
day Hansen
waived
its
hearing
request,
and that waiver was
accepted by the Board on
January
27,
1983,
Hansen
requests relief in its Second Amended
Petition for
Variance from
the following Water Pollution Rules:
1.
Section
304.105,
in conjunction with
the dissolved
oxygen water
quality standards of Sections 302,206
and
302.502,
for a period of
18 months,
to allow it to
discharge wastewater
containing up to 15
mg/i of 5~’daybiochemical
oxygen demand
(BOD5) and 15
mg/i total suspended solids
(TSS);
2.
Section
304.105,
in conjunction with
the fecal coliform
water quality
standards of 302.209 and 302.505,
for a period
of six months,
to allow it to discharge
wastewater containing
fecal coliform
in amounts up to 300 per 100 ml;
51~189
3,
Section 304
12
1.
Ue
BOO
and TSS effluent
standards
for
the Lake Michigan has~n
o
a pe~iodof 18 months,
to
allow
it to discharge wastea
or cont ining
up to 15 mg/i BOD5
and
15 mg/i
TSS.
The Board notes t at
~t oi~ 302 209
(Fecal Coliform)
was
deleted on October 14,
1982
n I~/~12(Docket
D)
and
the Agency
argues that such relief
is ro lorger necessary,
However,
on
February
1,
1983 the First Distrct
Appellate Court
stayed the
effectiveness of that rulemaking and the request for
such relief
remains
appropriate.
Further
ir~
rder for complete
relief,
the Board construes
the petition to request relief
from Section
304,121 concerning
fecal coliform effluent limitations
which are
obviously
not being met at present.
Hansen was issued NPDES Permit No. 1L0022632
which
expired
on
December 31,
1979.
A timely application for
renewal
of this
permit was received by the Agency on March 18, 1980
with supple-
mental
information receiv~’don J ly 18,
1980,
On April
23,
1981
the Agency notified Petitioner that its permit could
not be issued
unless a variance is obtained
~ue
t
its determination
that
Hansen~sdischarge cause
or cortributed to dissolved
oxygen
water quality vio~ations
Hansen owns and operates a wastewater treatment
plant which
treats domestic wastewater from its actuarial and
consulting firm.
Approximately 200 persons are employed at Petitioner~s
firm at
1080 Green Bay Road,
Lake Blu~f Lake County,
Illinois.
Waste—
water is treated
rn a
septic turk
~hich is
followed by two
sand
filters and ci 1orina~ior t
e~prior to being discharged
to an unnamed ditcu
~hich
rs tributary to Lake Michigan.
This
facility has a design average flow of 0.004 million
gallons per
day (MGD)
and a design maximum
fiow of 0.006 MGD.
Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR~s) submitted
by Hansen,
reports by
the North Shore Sanitary District
(NSSD)
and Agency grab
samples show the following:
Date
TSS
Fecai
Coliform
4/5/74
Agency
34
11
330,000
10/24/74
Agency
15—
8
230,000
7/77
DMR
14 avg.
13.9 avg.
10—
8/77
DMR
S avg.
22,8 avg.
5—
9/77
DMR
~ avg.
10.5 avg.
5.0
4/8/81
Agency
4
21
62,000
10/8/81
Agency
4
270
500,000
11/14/81
NSSD
23—
72
2—
1/20/82
NSSD
15—
2072
100—
3/1/82
Agency
3
47
10—
3/82
DMR
22
*
4/82
DMA
4—
17
20-S
5/11/82
NSSD
132÷
13
100—
5/28/82
NSSD
19
22
6000÷
5/82
DMR
132W’
13
100—
6/27/82
NSSD
3÷
9
*
—3—
Date
Source
BOD5
TSS
Fecal Coliform
7/20/82
NSSD
25+
36
20+
7/20/82
Agency
12
14
*
7/20/82
—
8/12/82
DMR
71
4
*
8/12/82
NSSD
71
4
33,000
8/24/82
NSSD
104
9
260
8/12—24/82
DMR
104
9
*
10/82
DMR
30
5
10
11/10/82
NSSD
3+
4
2+
11/17/82
NSSD
10
2
5÷
11/82
DMR
6
3
3
*
i’i~jt
reported
+
more than
—
ie~sthan
Neither Hansen nor the Agency have presented evidence of
dissolved oxygen violations within the unnamed ditch which
receives Hansen’s discharge nor at the immediate vicinity of the
ditch’s
confluence with Lake Michigan.
Therefore,
it has iiot
been demonstrated that variances from Sections 302.206
(Dissolved
Oxygen)
and 302.502
(Lake Michigan Dissolved Oxygen) are necessary.
Variance from those sections is accordingly denied.
Prior
to September,
1982,
Hansen’s efforts
to achieve compli—
arice centered around rebuilding the sand bed filters
(including
substituting
larger size sand for the sand previously used)
to
reduce BOD~and TSS discharges,
and unclogging pipes
in the
facility that were believed to contribute to wastewater surges.
Having had limited success
in those endeavors,
in September,
1982,
Hansen retained an engineering consulting firm
to study its treatment
facijities, recommend and implement improvements that could be short—
term, and develop,
if possible,
an economically feasible plan to
u~gradethe facilities to assure ultimate compliance with the BOD5,
“sS,
dissolved oxygen and fecal
coliforrn standards.
Hansen has instituted the
following improvements
to its
wastewater treatment facility:
1.
Hansen has made certain improvements to the facility’s
chlorination system,
including relocation of the
chlorine pump switch electrodes,
that have reduced
the frequency of fecal coliform exceedances.
2.
Hansen has negotiated and drafted a contract to employ
an experienced and licensed wastewater engineer to
supervise operation of
the facility.
3.
Hansen has begun keeping daily records of wastewater
flow through water usage records and has begun
testing
pH and chlorine residual daily.
51-191
—4—
4.
Hansen is instituting
a program of weekly effluent
sampling with the cooperation of the North Shore Sanitary
District,
5.
Hansen has planned, and is in the process of
preparing
a permit application for, the installation of
a contact
chlorination system
to reduce
fecal coliform to less
than 200 per 100
ml.
In connection with the new system,
Hansen will
install a chlorine contact tank with baffles,
a new chlorine pump,
and flow controls to alleviate
the problems caused by wastewater surges that have
occurred in the past.
Hansen’s consultant has come to the tentative conclusion
that with improved operation of the treatment facility and in-
stallation of a new chlorination system,
the following effluent
levels can be consistently met:
BOD5
—
15 mg/i; TSS
—
15 mg/i;
fecal coliform
—
200 per 100 ml.
Hansen’s consultant has studied means of compliance with
the Lake Michigan basin BOD5 and TSS effluent standards and
has
concluded that four alternative means of complying with these
standards are theoretically possible:
(a) constructing a new
qastewater treatment facility;
(b) spray irrigation in the summer
months and hauling wastewater to the NSSD in the winter months
or, alternatively, hauling to NSSD year—round;
(c) connecting
to an existing sewer system;
and
(d) obtaining
a site—specific
rule change
of the current BODç and TSS effluent standards and
the dissolved oxygen water quality standard.
Modification of the existing
treatment facilities
to comply
with the stringent Lake Michigan basin BaD5 and TSS standards
would,
practically speaking, amount
to the construction of a
new
package plant.
This would require a capital investment of
well in excess of $100,000 and yearly operating expenses exceeding
$15,500.
Hansen argues that hauling to the NSSD and spray irrigation
during the summer months are also neither practicable nor economi-
cally feasible.
Spray irrigation would be inordinately expensive
in
comparison with any possible benefits, because
it could be
used only during the summer months.
Hauling the sewage from
Petitioner’s facility to the NSSD would cost a minimum of
$50,000 per year and would cause significant storage and transporta-
tion problems.
Hansen believes that connection to an existing wastewater
treatment facility may be a viable future option for ultimate
compliance with the Board’s effluent standards, but that this
option is not presently available.
Hansen has been denied
permission by the Great Lakes Naval Training Center to connect
to its sewer system and indicates its belief that neither the
Village of Lake Bluff nor the City of North Chicago will extend
sewer service to unincorporated areas until such time as those
5 1-192
—5—
areas
are
annexed
•
No
annexation
proceedings
are
currently
pending
or,
to
Hansen’s
knowledge,
contemplated.
Even
if
connection
to
an existing sewer system was possible, its cost, estimated by
NSSJ) at $140,000 is great.
The fourth alternative, obtaining a site-specific rule change,
may be appropriate, but Hansen does not presently possess sufficient
data to initiate a rule change proceeding.
Both
Hansen
and
the Agency agree that the environmental
impact
of
Hansen’s
discharge
is
minimal.
As
noted
above,
Hansen discharges only 4,000 gallons of wastewater
per
day.
Thus,
at
the
rate
of
15
mg/l
of
TSS,
the total suspended solids dis-
charged from Hansen’s facility would
amount
to approximately 240
grams
per
day, (although Hansen
had
incorrectly calculated it as
120 grams per day).
The environmental impact of this amount is
hardly
significant.
Moreover,
Hansen’s
discharge
is
to
an
unnamed
ditch
that
is
less
than
two
feet
wide
throughout
its
course
from
above
Hansen’ s
property
to
its
discharge
into the lake
•
The
unnamed
ditch
is
not
used
for
recreational
purposes
and is
not
a
habitat
for
fish or other significant aquatic life.
Any
aesthetic
value the ditch might have would not be impaired by
BODE,
TSS
and
fecal coliform discharges in the concentrations that Hadsen
requests in this variance petition.
It is true
that the
ditch empties into Lake Michigan.
However, the small
amount
of flow of the ditch and the probability
that B00
is reduced, and dissolved oxygen increased, along the
one and dna-quarter mile course of the ditch, suggests
that
no
harm would be done to Lake Michigan by discharges meeting
the
ef
fluent
limitations
requested
in
this
variance
proceeding.
Further, the nearest drinking water intake to the confluence of
the ditch and Lake Michigan is approximately
2 miles north at
the
Great
Lake Naval Training Base.
In
its
original
recommendation,
the
Agency
noted
that
the
ditch
flows
through
a
subdivision
on
its
course towards the lake
and
suggested
that
fecal
coliform
levels
in
the
effluent
might
present
a
danger
to
health.
However,
since
Hansen’s
fecal
coliform
variance
request
is
for
a
short
period
of
time
and
largely
during
cold
weather
months,
this
potential
short—term
danger
is
not
of
such
magnitude
as
to
indicate
denial
of
the
requested
six—month
fecal
coliform
variance.
Since
Hansen
is
in
the
process
of
upgrading
its
chlorination
facilities, a short term variance fran the water quality and
effluent standards would seem appropriate
and
should
not
affect
any of
the
water supplies on Lake Michigan.
The Board notes,
however,
that
the Lake Michigan water quality limitation for fecal
coliform is 20/100 ml (Water Pollution Rules, Section 302.505),
not 200/100 ml as stated in paragraphs 5,6(e)
and
7 of the second
~ended variance petition, and appropriate design, construction,
and
operation of the chlorination facilities must be made.
51-193
—6—
Hansen
presents
four
basic
methods
it
could
use
to
come
into
compliance,
as
noted
above,
and
is
requesting
until
December
15,
1983 to evaluate which of these methods to use and then, apparently,
another 6 months to implement its choice.
Although the Agency
agrees that a variance for I period of 18 months seems reasonable,
it argues that allowing Hansen almost a year to decide on a com-
pliance plan seems exceedingly long and could jeopardize ultimate
compliance
by
the
end
of
the
remaining six
month
period.
The
Board
agrees
with
the
Agency
and
notes,
for
example,
that
if
an
economic impact study is required for a site-specific regulatory
proceeding, a minimum of 9 months would probably be necessary for
adoption of the regulation.
Further if Hansen pursues such a rule
change, probably more
than
the few stream dissolved oxygen readings
wilt be necessary for these proceedings as Hansen’s environmental
study implies will be done.
Although not mentioned in the petition, Hansen
has
a 1.0 mg/l
phosphorus limitation which most likely is not being met.
As a
resalt, any compliance plan should also address this contaminant.
Due to
the
relatively small discharge of wastewater per day,
the requested limits being 15/15 800 /ThS, the comparatively short
variance period requested for the hiØh fecal coliform discharge,
the size of the business, and past efforts made to achieve compliance,
the
Board concludes it would be an arbitrary or unreasonable
hardship upon Hansen to deny variance.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
1.
A.S. Hansen, Inc. is hereby granted variance from
Sections 302.505 (Lake Michigan Fecal Coliform),
302.209
and
304.105 (Water Quality Standards)
as it relates to
fecal coliform, and 304.121 (Bacteria Effluent Standard)
until July 1, 1983;
2.
Hansen
is hereby granted variance from 304.120(d)
(Lake Michigan BOD~/TSS)and 304.104 (Water Quality Standards)
as it relates to BOO5 and
TSS
until July 1,
1984.
3.
Hansen’s discharge shall not exceed the following
limitations during the respective variance terms:
a,
Fecal coliform
shall
not
exceed
a
maximum
geometric mean of 300 per 100 ml, based on
a minimum of five samples
taken
over
not
more
than a 30-day period through July 1, 1983;
b.
DOD5 shall not exceed
5 mg/l through July 1, 1984;
c.
Suspended solids shall not exceed 15 mg/l through
July 1, 1984.
51-194
—7—
4.
Hansen
shall
monitor
fecal
coliforrn,
BOD5,
suspended
solids,
flows, pH and phosphorus and report monthly
on Discharge Monitoring Reports
(DMR’s);
5.
Hansen shall sample for the parameters listed
in
Condition 4 at least weekly;
6.
Hansen
shall adhere to the following schedule for
coming into compliance;
Present Compliance Plan
to the Agency on or before July
1,
1983;
Submit Complete Permit Application on or before
October
1,
1983; and
Complete Compliance Plan and meet all limitations
on or before
July
1,
1984
6.
Hansen shall complete and/or maintain all items listed
in sub—paragraphs (a)-(e)
in paragraph
6 of the Second
Amended Petition.
7.
Within forty—five days
of the date of this Order,
Hansen shall execute and forward to Illinois En-
vironmental Protection Agency, Water Pollution Control,
Variance Unit,
2200 Churchill
Road,
Springfield,
Illinois
62706,
a Certificate of
Acceptance agreeing to be
bound
to all terms and conditions of this variance.
This
forty—five day period shall he held in abeyance for
any period this matter
is being appealed.
The form
of the certificate shall he as
follows:
CERTIFICATE
I,
(We),
_________
____________
_______,
having read
the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board in PCB
81—177,
dated February 24, 1983,
understand and accept the said Order,
realizing that such acceptance renders all terms
and conditions
thereto binding and enforceable.
Petitioner
By:
Authorized
Agency
Title
Date
51495
—8—
8.
The request for variance from Sections
302.206
(Dissolved Oxygen)
and 302,502
(Lake Michigan Dissolved
Oxygen)
is hereby denied,
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan
L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby c~rjtifythat th~above Opinion and Order
was adopted on the~’~
day ~
—,
1983
by a vote of
~
L~
.
___
______
~-
___
Christan
L. Moff~~?V.Clerk
Illinois Pollutio~.t~ontrolBoard
51-196