ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April
16,
1981
CONVENT SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT,
Petitioner,
V.
)
PCB 81—6
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGE!’~CY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION
1~ND
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J.D. Dumelle):
On January
21,
1981 the Convent Sewage Treatment Plant
(CSTP)
filed a variance petition requesting relief from Rul~
402 and 404 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution,
as they pertain
to dissolved oxygen.
Pursuant
to Board order, CSTP filed
an amended petition on February
10,
1981 to cure noted
deficiencies.
On March 12,
1981 the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency
(Agency)
filed a recommendation to grant the
variance with certain modifications and conditions.
Hearing was
waived and none was held.
The Congregation of Planteiiate Servants of Mary of Pistoria,
owners and operators of CSTP,
intend
to build a new convent
southwest of the City of Plainfield along R.R.
3, Drauden
Road,
in Will County.
It is expected to house up to 25 people
upon completion and ultimately will house as many as
40.
A package sewage treatment plant which will discharge to the
DuPage River has been designed to service the convent and
IR
scheduled to be completed
in 1981.
The proposed facility consists
of
a septic tank,
dosing
tanks,
2 intermittent sand filters, a chlorination manhole,
2100 feet of 6—inch sanitary sewer pipe and 11 standard 4—foot
diameter manholes.
Normal loading
is anticipated to be 2500
gallons per day.
The design effluent concentrations of ~3OD5
and SS are
4 mg/l
50 per cent of the time and greater than
12 mg/i
10 per cent of
the
time.
Variance from Rule 404 is denied as unnecessary in that
that rule sets a BOD5 effluent limitation considerably above
the expected concentrations from the CSTP.
Further,
the former
requirement of a demonstration of non—violation of water quality
standards pursuant to Rule 404(f)(ii) has now been deleted
from Rule 404.
However,
in order to obtain the desired relief,
a variance from Rule 203(d) of Chapter
3
is necessary,
and
the Board hereby considers that relief on its own motion.
41— 277
—2—
The relief sought by CSTP is identical to that granted
by the Board in Village of Bloomingdale v. EPA
(PCB
78—124,
32PCB23,
Nov.
2,
1978), and the reasoning of that case applies
here.
In Bloomingdale nearly
300 dischargers to the DuPago
and Des Plaines Rivers were joined in a variance proceeding
regarding depressed dissolved oxygen
(DO) levels in those
rivers.
Demonstrations of non—contribution to violations
of DO standards by all dischargers was held to impose an arbitrary
and unreasonable hardship, especially since those standards ~iight
have been changed by a then pending regulatory proceeding
(R77—1.2,
Docket C).
Despite the fact that R77—12 has now been decided
and the 4/5
(BODç/SS)
standard has now been dropped,
the Agency
has not argued triat that decision changes the reasoning, nor has
it presented any evidence concerning present water quality i~
the affected rivers.
However, based upon that reasoning
the
Board finds that denial of the variance with respect to Rules
203(d)
and 402 of Chapter
3 would constitute an arbitrary and
unreasonable hardship.
Further, based upon the effluent quality
of the proposed CSTP and its minimal discharge,
the Board finds
that there will be little or no environmental impact.
The Board will not set effluent limitations on the CSTP
because the record does not give sufficient information to
do
so.
However,
it is expected that the plant will operate
in reasonable conformity with the design concentrations.
Finally, the CSTP will be located in the Plainfield
Facility Planning area which
is included in the Northeastern
Illinois Planning Commission’s 208 Plan.
Under Rule 902(j)(4)
of Chapter
3, CSTP must obtain a revision of that plan to
include its discharge prior to Agency approval of construction
or operation permits.
This Opinion constitutes the Boardts findings of
eact
and conclusions of law
in this matter.
ORDER
Convent Sewage Treatment Plant is hereby granted
a varidrice
from Rules 203(d) and 402 of Chapter
3 as they pertain to
dissolved oxygen until October
23,
1983 subject
to the
fo.llowinq
conditions:
1.
CSTP shall obtain a revision of the areawide water
quality management plan consistent with this varianee
to include its proposed sewage treatment plant
in
this plan.
2.
CSTP shall, at such time as the Plainfield sewer
system becomes available,
connect
to this system
and abandon its sewage treatment plant after obtaininq
all necessary permits.
41—278
3.
Within 45 days after the Board Order, the CSTP shal.i
execute and forward to the Illinois Environmentat
Protection Agency, Division of Water Pollution
Control, Compliance Assurance Section,
2200 Churchill
Road, Springfield, Illinois
62706,
a Certification
of Acceptance and Agreement to be bound by all con~tL~n~
of this Variance.
This forty—five day period shall
be stayed if CSTP seeks judicial review of this Varidn’~.
The form of
said Certification shall be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I,
—
,
having re~td
f~ie
Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board in PCB
81—6,
Dated
__________________,
understand and accept the Order
and
agree to be bound by all of its terms and conditions.
_______________________________________________
Petitioner
_______________________________________________
Authorized Agent
_____________________________________________,
Title
_______________________________________________,
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify that the above Opinion and Order
was adopted on the
/~
~
day of
~
,
1981
by a vote of
______.
f
Christan L. Moffett,
O~Ierk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
4 1—279