ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    April 21, 1994
    CITY OF SHELBYVILLE,
    )
    )
    Petitioner,
    )
    v.
    )
    PCB 94—128
    )
    (Provisional Variance)
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    )
    Respondent.
    ORDER OF THE BOARD:
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act
    (Act)
    (415 ILCS
    5/35(b)),
    the City of Shelbyville has requested
    that
    the
    Illinois
    Environmental
    Protection
    Agency
    (Agency)
    recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to allow the
    city
    of
    Shelbyville
    to
    continue
    operating
    during
    a
    period
    of
    wastewater treatment plant repairs to its effluent force main.
    Such request for
    a provisional variance and the Notification of
    Recommendation was filed with the Board by the Agency on April 20,
    1994.
    Pursuant to Section 35(b)
    of the Act, the Board must issue
    the variance within two
    (2) days of this filing.
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act
    (Act)
    (415 ILCS
    5/35(b)),
    the Illinois Environmental Protection
    Agency
    (Agency), by and through its Director, Mary A.
    Gade, seeks
    a provisional variance for the City of Shelbyville
    in order to
    allow
    it
    to
    continue
    operating during
    a
    period
    of
    wastewater
    treatment plant repairs.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant the City of
    Shelbyville
    a
    forty—five
    (45)—day provisional variance
    for
    its
    Shelby County facility from the biochemical oxygen demand
    (BOD5),
    and suspended solids
    (TSS) effluent requirements, as set forth in
    35 Ill.
    Adin. Code 309.102, for the period from when the petitioner
    removes the force main from service and begins discharging from the
    wastewater
    treatment
    plant
    into Robinson
    Creek,
    and continuing
    until the petitioner returns the force main to service, but not for
    longer than 45 days.
    The Agency
    recommends
    that the
    Board
    grant
    the requested
    provisional variance with specified conditions.
    The Agency agrees
    that the repairs are necessary.
    The. Agency anticipates that the
    requested provisional variance would have minimal environmental
    impact
    on the receiving stream.
    The Agency
    is unaware of any
    public water supplies that the requested provisional variance would
    adversely
    impact.
    The
    Agency
    maintains
    that
    a
    grant
    of
    a
    provisional variance would violate no federal
    laws.
    The Agency
    finds that
    a
    denial of the requested provisional variance would

    2
    create 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 responsibilities in
    standard variances.
    (~
    415 ILCS 5/35
    (b)
    &
    (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
    finding
    that
    a
    denial
    of
    the
    requested
    relief
    would
    impose
    an
    arbitrary
    or
    unreasonable hardship,
    the Board hereby grants the petitioner
    a
    provisional
    variance
    from
    35
    Ill.
    Adm.
    Code
    309.102,
    on
    the
    following conditions:
    1.
    This variance shall begin when the force main is removed
    from service and Petitioner begins discharging into Robinson
    Creek and shall continue for forty-five (45) days or until the
    force main is returned to service, whichever comes first.
    2.
    The
    petitioner
    shall
    notify
    Joe
    Koronkowski
    of
    the
    Agency’s Champaign Regional office by telephone,
    at 217—333-
    8361, when
    it removes
    its force main unit from service and
    when it returns the unit to service, and the petitioner shall
    confirm this notice in
    writing
    within five (5) days, addressed
    as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Division of Water Pollution Control
    Compliance Assurance Section
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois
    62794—9276
    Attention:
    Mark T. Books
    3.
    During the provisional variance, Petitioner shall operate
    its sewage treatment plant so as to produce the best effluent
    practicable.
    Additionally,
    Petitioner
    shall
    perform
    the
    necessary
    repair
    work
    on
    the
    effluent
    force
    main
    as
    expeditiously as possible.
    4.
    During the term of this provisional variance, Petitioner
    shall meet monthly average effluent limits at outfall 002 of
    10 mg/i
    BOD5
    12 mg/i SS and 4.0 mg/i ammonia nitrogen
    (all
    concentration limits).

    3
    5.
    During the variance period, Petitioner shall monitor for
    its effluent parameter limits as required by its NPDES permit.
    Petitioner shall also maintain compliance with its current
    limits for pH and phosphorous.
    6.
    The petitioner 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;
    the petitioner 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 94-128, April 21,
    1994.
    Petitioner
    Authorized Agent
    Title
    Date

    4
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy
    M.
    Gunn,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board,
    do hereby certify that the above order was adopted on the
    ~/‘~
    day of
    ~
    ,
    1994,
    by a vote of
    _________
    Dorothy M.
    unn, Clerk
    Illinois
    o lution Control Board

    Back to top