ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February 2,

1978

NORTH

SHORE

SANITARY DISTRICT,

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB

77—228

fNVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

O?INION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr.

Dumelle):

This

case comes before the Board as

a request for an ex—

tension

of

a series of six prior variances.

The variances have

all

been

requested as a result of the sewer ban imposed on

Petitioner

nearly seven years ago.

The sewer ban has remained

in

effect

because of the overloaded sewers tributary to the

Waukegan

STP and the insufficient quality of the effluent from

that

facility.

The

parties have filed a stipulation which contains an

agreed

set of conditions on a variance.

Essentially they

agree that

the relief granted in PCB 76-295,

issuance of per—

inits

totalllng 1500 P.E.,

should be

extended until December 31,

1978.

This request is reasonable because Petitioner only used

100

of

the 1500 P.E.

it was granted.

As conditions

of this

relief

the

parties ask that the Board-imposed sewer ban remain

in

effect

and that no connections to the Judge Avenue sewer be

allowed.

In

addition Petitioner agrees

to

apply to the Board

to

remove

the sewer ban after the effluent

from

the Waukegan

STP

has

been diverted to the Des Plaines

River,

The

sewer ban is apparently still necessary.

Although the

quality

of

the effluent from the Waukegan plant has improved sig-

nificantly,

it

still does not meet the standards for Lake Michigan.

Diversion

to the Des Plaines River would remedy this problem, but

the

diversion is still not completed.

The Agency~sRecommendation

indicated

that diversion was supposed to

be

accomplished by

October

31, 1977.

In a progress report dated January 12,

1978

and

filed

under PCB 76—285, construction

of

the

necessary Waukegan

STP

effluent

pumping station is described as ~‘99 complete”.

Consequently the Board has no idea when the diversion will be

completed

and, the ban will not be lifted until compliance has

been

achieved.

29

—

163

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—2—

The

ban on

connections

to the

Judge Avenue

sewer is sup-

ported by the fact

that no evidence

has been

presented to show

any improvement to

the inadequate

capacity of

this sewer.

Denial

of a

variance to allow the

issuance of permits total-

ling

1400 P.E.

(the

remainder) would

constitute an arbitrary and

unreasonable

hardship

upon Petitioner.

This

Opinion

constitutes the Board~s

findings of fact and

conclusions of

law

in this matter.

It

is the Order

of the Pollution

Control

Board that the

variance granted

to

Petitioner in PCB

76-295

be

extended until

December 31, 1978

subject to the following

conditions:

I)

A total ban

on additional

connections to the

Judge

Avenue

sewer shall continue

in

full force and effect;

2)

The Board—imposed sewer

ban

shall

continue in full

force

and effect;

3)

Within six

months after

diversion

to the Des Plaines

River,

Petitioner

shall reapply to

the Board to lift

the

sewer ban.

The Agency shall

at

that time make its

recommendation

to the Board based

upon plant performance

evaluation.

4)

Within

45

days of the Board

Order herein

the

Peti-

tioner

shall

forward to the Illinois

Environmental

Protection Agency,

Variance Section,

Manager, Division of

Water Pollution

Control,

2200

Churchill

Road, Springfield,

Illinois

62706

a

Certificate of

Acceptance

and Agreement

to

be

bound

by

all

terms and

conditions

of the variance.

This

45 day period

shall be held in

abeyance during any

period this matter

is being appealed.

The form of said

Certification shall

be as follows:

CERTIFICATION

I

(We),

________

___________________

having

read

and fully un~

standing the

Order

of the Illinois

Pol-

lution

Control

Board in PCB 77~228

hereby

accept said Order

and

agree to be

bound by all of the terms

and conditions

thereof.

SIGNED

TITLE

DATE

29

*

164

---

—3—

Mr.

Goodman

abstains.

I, Christan L. Moffett,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were

adopted on the

_______

day of

_____________,

Christan

L. Moffeb1(~,~lerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board