ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

November 8,

1972

EAST SIDE LEVEE AND SANITARY DISTRICT,

)

ST. CLAIR AND MADISON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS

(LANSDOWNE),

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB72—313

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

EAST SIDE LEVEE AND SANITARY DISTRICT,

ST. CLAIR AND MADISON COUNTIES,

ILLINOIS

(CAHOKIA),

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB72—314

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

No appearances by counsel.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE

BOARD

(by Mr.

Parker):

Petitioner,

the East Side Levee and Sanitary District

of Madison and St. Clair Counties, seeks

a variance from the

fecal coliform limitations of Rule 405 of the Water Pollution

Regulations for each of its Lansdowne and Cahokia sewage

treatment plants.

Because of the close relationship between

the factual and legal issues presented as to the two treatment

plants, the separate variance petitions were consolidated for

public hearing and decision.

The East Side Levee and Sanitary District encompasses

about 96 square miles.

It includes the Lansdowne and Cahokia

plants owned and operated by the Levee District, which are the

subject of the instant Petitions, and several plants owned and

operated by municipalities within the District

(East

St. Louis,

Sauget and Granite City).

The Lansdowne plant is located in.

the north central portion of the District and serves a popula-

tion of about 30,000;

it also handles a substantial amount of

industrial flow

(R. 22-23).

The Cahokia plant serves an area

in the southernmost portion of the District of about 30,000

and has no industrial waste load.

Both plants are located

6— 179

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near the Mississippi River.

Effluent from the Lansdowne

plant discharges directly into the River through

a closed

pipe

(R.

26); effluent from the Cahokia plant discharges

into a flood plain area adjacent the River

(R.

25-26)

The evidence introduced

at the public hearing.~held

October

2,

1972,

showed that the Lansdowne and Cahokia

plants at present provide only primary treatment

(R.

27).

Plans have been and are being prepared for the construction

of secondary treatment facilities, including chlorination,

to

be added to the existing primary plants.

The new plant

facilities will cost an estimated $4,200,000 for Lansdowne

and $2,470,000 for Cahokia

(R. 31-32).

The projected

completion dates for the new facilities are July of

1974 for

Lansdowne

(R.

27)

and January of 1974 for Cahokia

(R.

29).

It is contemplated that the effluent from both facilities

will meet the fecal coliform levels of Rule 405 when the new

facilities have been completed and are on stream

(R.

30)

Unfortunately,

the January and July,

1974 completion

dates are not firm

(R.

54) because they must be approved by

the Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan Planning Commission

(SWIMPAC).

SWIMPAC is in the process of holding public hear-

ings directed to regionalizing the waste treatment facilities

in Southwestern

Illinois following which it will submit a

plan for approval by state and federal financing agencies

(R.

52).

Such a plan,

if implemented, will supercede the new

treatment facilities presently planned by the District for its

Cahokia and Lansdowne plants

(R.

53)

.

Stated otherwise,

if

SWIMPAC does not approve the District’s present construction

plans as being consistent with whatever regionalization plan

emerges from the SWIMPAC hearings, then the District will be

unable to obtain federal or state financing and the proposed

new secondary and chlorination treatment facilities will not

be built

(R.

54).

The effluents from the two primary plants at the present

time have fecal coliform levels far above the 400 count per

100 ml. requirement of Rule 405 which became effective July

1,

1972.

In the case of Lansdowne,

fecal coliform levels between

1.1 and 24 million were measured by the Agency during the

period January

4 through June 27, 1972

(Exh.

1).

At Cahokia

the levels were found

to be between 2.5 and 5.2 million over

the period January

4 through July 7,

1972

(Exh.

2).

Much of the public hearing was directed to the practicality

and economic reasonableness of the District’s installing

interim chlorination facilities

to permit the Rule

405 standard

to be met in advance of

the projected completion dates for the

new facilities.

The record shows that interim chlorination

facilities can be installed at each of the Lansdowne and

Cahokia plants at

a capital cost of $21,000

(R.

8,

11).

Operat-

ing costs are expected to be $12,000 per year at Lansdowne

(R.

9)

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6— 180

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and $3,700 per year at Cahokia

(R.

11).

There would be no

salvage value for either plant insofar as later use of the

temporary equipment in the permanent facilities is concerned

(R.

35).

Such interim facilities if installed w~il1permit

the Rule 405 fecal coliform standard to be met

(R.

9,

36).

They can be installed by January of 1973

(R. 64).

Petitioner argues that it would be unreasonable to

require it to spend these amounts because only limited funds

are available and for the reason that continued discharge

of the Lansdowne and Cahokia effluents

(4 and 1.6 million gallons

per day, respectively) will have no measurable adverse effect

upon the Mississippi River which has a flow of 1,000 million

gallons per day.

No data was presented on this latter point

(R.

39)

.

Petitioner also points out that the nearby City of

St. Louis presently discharges over 200 million gallons per

day of unchlorinated municipal wastes into the River

(R.

39),

and Petitioner mentions the fact that there are regulatory

proceedings presently pending before this Board, upon which

public hearings have not been completed as yet, involving an

amendment proposed by the Agency which would,

if adopted,.

extend the Rule 405 compliance date for discharges to the

Mississippi River from July 1,

1972 to December 31,

1973.

We believe both variance petitions must be denied.

Firstly, the construction of the permanent facilities, being

dependent upon what SWIMPAC does,

is so indefinite both as to

whether they will be built at all and as to completion times,

that there is no assurance in this record thatRule 405 will

ever be met.

Second, the cost of interim chlorination facili-

ties is so low that we do not believe it will impose any sub-

stantial hardship on the District or its users.

The $42,000

combined capital costs of interim chlorination amounts to less

than one percent of the total capital expenditure of $6,670,000

for the proposed permanent facilities.

If the cost of interim

chlorination were distributed to the users of the facilities

it would amount to only about two cents per month per user in

the Lansdowne area

(R.

51),

and a comparable small amount for

Cahokia.

Thirdly, petitioner has not proven on this record

that there will be no harmful effect on the Mississippi River

of continued discharges

of high fecal coliform count effluents

into the River.

While the record shows that there is no sub-

stantial recreational use of the Mississippi River at the point

of entry of effluents from the Lansdowne and Cahokia plants

(R.

84),

the record suggests

at least with respect to Cahokia

that health dangers may well exist from effluent back-up into

the flood plain

(R. 84-85).

The fact that the City of St.

Louis may be on a different time schedule for cleaning up its

effluent discharges to the Mississippi River than the State of

Illinois is not,

in our

view, justification for holding in

abeyance the operation of our own standards.

—3—

6

—

181

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As for the District’s contention that the Board may

amend

Rule 405 to extend the compliance date to December 31,

1973,

we point out that until the present public hearings

in

these regulatory proceedings have been completed,

and the

Board has had a chance to review the record,

there will be

no Board decision.

Needless to say,

it is impossible to

predict what the Board’s decision will be.

Moreover, the

projected earliest completion dates advanced by Petitioner

for its permanent facilities, January and July of 1974, both

extend beyond the December 31, 1973 date,

so that in any

event it would still be necessary later to provide interim

chlorination, or to make a showing of hardship in doing so,

for the period after December 31,

1973.

Insofar as the District’s contention that

funds are not

available for interim chlorination is concerned, we find the

record evidence inadequate to support our drawing any such

conclusion.

There is testimony that there are reserves or

excess funds of $5,000 to $8,000 per year

(R.

78).

Also, in

response to

a request made during the public hearing

(R. 65),

the District forwarded a letter to the Hearing Officer and

Board dated October

4,

1972 which lists $389.97 and $3,587.33,

respectively,

as balances in the Cahokia and Lansdowne opera-

tion and maintenance funds.

No other evidence has been pre-

sented as to the financial condition of the District and its

sources of funds, and we cannot, based on this incomplete

information, find that there are inadequate funds available

to pay for interim chlorination.

Both petitions are denied.

This opinion constitutes the

findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Board.

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Pollution Control Board,

certify that the above Opinion and Order was adopted on the

~‘‘

day of

___________________,

1972, by a vote of

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to

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