ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April
18, 1985
CITY OF IcEITMsaURc~,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB
85—49
3
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by 3. D.
Dumelie)
This provisional variance request comes before the Board
upon an April
18, 1985 Recommendation of the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency).
The Agency recommends
that
a 15—day provisional variance
be granted
to the City of
~eithaburg (City)
from 35
Ill. Adm. Code
304,120(a)
to allow
bypassing of its primary treatment plant while
it drains a
Spiragester
tank in order
to weld new metal plates over the
rusted and deteriorated areas of the tank,
repaint,
and make
other necessary repairs.
The City of Keithsburg,
~è~ich
has
a population of 93~1, is
located
in Mercer County adjacent to the Mississippi River.
The
Petitionors existing sewage treatment plant. offers primary
treatment only and discharges pursuant to NPDES Permit
No. 1L0021393 to
the
main navigation channel of
the Mississippi
River just below the mouth of Pope Creek.
The City’s wastewater
treatment facilities include sewers,
a lift station, sludge
drying beds, and a Spiragester tank (i.e.,
a modified version of
the Imhoff
tank).
(Rec.
1),
The Petitioner has stated that its
Spiragester
tank has significantly rusted and deteriorated~
thereby necessitating replacement of portions
of
the tank and
subsequent painting.
(Rec.
1).
The Petitioner received a variance from
35
i:t.i. Mm.
Code 304.120(a)
and
35 Ill, Adm. Code 304.121 until July 1,
1988
In PCB 84—57.
(See:
City of Keithsburg
v.
IEPA,
PCB 84—57,
Opinion and Order
of January 24, l~85). This variance
in
PCB 84—57 established effluent limits
of
85 mg/1 BOD and 75 mg/l
suspended solids as monthly averages.
The requested provisional
variance
is sought to allow the
City
to
be
able
to continue to
meet the effluent limitations set forth
in PCI3 84—57
until
secondary treatment is provided.
(Rec.
2),
The following table summatize~the relevant
information
obtained from the Petitioner’s discharge monitor
ing
reports
to
63-517
—2—
the Agency pertaining
to BOD and suspended solids levels during
the past year:
Flow
Influent
(rrv/l)
Effluent
(itg/l)
Y.onth
____
TSS
TSS
3/84
0.109
127
118
69
61
2/84
0.109
125
112
81
61
1/84
0.096
122
102
78
60
12/83
11/83
10/83
0.096
155
134
84
72
9/83
0.109
127
93
77
64
8/83
0.131
119
91
68
70
7/83
0.123
127
103
67
60
6/83
0.166
119
96
57
50
5/83
0.252
109
88
63
53
4/83
0.135
119
84
47
51
Average
0.133
125
102
69
60
Those months where no values are reported
in the above
table
indicate that the applicable discharge monitoring reports were
not
in the Agency’s file.
The proposed discharges from the
Petitioner’s sewerage system are identified
in the table above
under
the Ninfluentn column,
since
the City proposes to bypass
the treatment facility and discharge directly into the
Mississippi River using the same discharge pipe.
The Petitioner has asserted that the environmental impact of
bypassing the Spiragester tank and discharging directly into the
Mississippi River will be minimal due to the low sewage
flows and
the large dilution ration of 5,100
to
1
in the river.
(Rec.
1).
The Agency agrees with the Petitioner
that the proposed
discharges will have
a minimal environment
impact.
(Rec.
1).
The City of Keithsburg has estimated that
it will take five
actual days of work time
to repair and paint the Spiragester tank
and has requested a provisional variance from May 27, 1985 to
June
2,
1985 (i.e., seven days)
for performing this work.
The
proposed seven day variance period includes two days
in case the
start of the repair work needs
to be delayed due
to unfavorable
weather conditions.
However,
the Agency believes that the
Petitioner should be provided with more flexibility
in case
unfavorable weather conditions are encountered,
Therefore,
the
Agency has recommended that a
15 day provisional variance period
is appropriate in the present case,
(Rec.
2).
The Board agrees
with the Agency’s reasoning and analysis of the situation and
will accordingly provide the Petitioner with more flexibility by
adopting
a longer
time frame as per the Agency’s recommendation.
The Petitioner
intends to p1a~ethe sludge from the
Spiragester tank on drying beds and dispose of this sludge
in its
customary manner during the time period that repairs are being
made.
(Rec.
2).
The City believes that there
is no practical
63-518
—3*
alternative to taking the Spiragester
tank out of service
to
perform the required repair and repainting work.
The Agency
agrees with the Petitioner and considers the repair work
necessary to properly maintain the level of treatment currently
being provided.
(Rec,
2).
The record
in PCB 84—57 indicated
that the City of Keithsburg’s primary treatment facility
is well
operated and maintained and that the City was nominated for
a
Group 0 plant award in 1982.
The Agency has stated that
it “is not aware of any potable
water supply between Petitioner’s point of discharge and Lock and
Dam No.
18 which would be adversely impacted by granting this
variance” due
to the large dilution ratio of 5,100
to
1 and the
anticipated minimal environmental impact.
(Rec.
3).
The City
has contended that denial of this requested provisional variance
would cause an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship since
there
is
no readily available alternative
to bypassing the SpirageSter
tank.
The Agency agrees with the Petitioner’s assessment that
denial of
the requested relief would cause
an arbitrary or
unreasonable hardship and notes that the tank will
be out of
service an extremely short time and the environmental impact
is
expected to be minimal during this time period,
(Rec.
2).
Accordingly, the Agency has cøncluded that compliance on a
short—term basis with the
provisions
of 35
Ill. Mm.
Code 304.120(a)
would
impose an arbitrary or unreasonable
hardship upon the Petitioner.
Therefore,
the Agency recommends
that the Roard grant the City of Keithsburg
a provisional
variance from Section 304.120(a)
for
a period of
15 days,
subject
to certain conditions.
Pursuant to Section 3(b)
of the Illinois Environmental
Protection Act,
the Board hereby grants the provisional variance
as recommended.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
The City of Keithsburg
is hereby granted
a provisional
variance from 35 Ill. Mm, Code 304.120(a)
to allow bypassing
of
its primary treatment plant while repairs are made, subject to
the following conditions:
1.
This provisional variance shall commence when the
Spiragester tank is taken out of service and shall continue for
15 days, or until
the Spiragester tank
is returned
to
service,
whichever occurs first.
2.
The Petitioner shall sample
the discharge and perform
laboratory analyses as
required in its NPDES Permit No,
1L0021393.
The laboratory results shall be recorded on its
discharge monitoring reports and submitted to
the Agency as
required by its NPDES Permit Nr~ 1L0021393,
63-519
—4—
3.
The Petitioner
shall notify Mr. James Frost
of the
Agency’s Compliance Assurance Section via telephone at
217/782—9720 when the Spiragester
tank is removed from service
and when
it
is returned
to service.
Written confirmation of the
telephone notification shall be submitted within
5 days thereof
to:
Mr. James Frost
Compliance Assurance Section
illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Water Pollution Control
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, Illinois
62706
4.
The Petitioner
shall monitor the draining
of the
Spiragester tank to assure that all sludge removed
is placed on
the sludge drying beds for dewatering and subsequent proper
disposal.
5.
The Petitioner
shall perform the repair
and painting
work
as expeditiously as possible
so as
to return
the Spiragester
tank
to service
as quickly as possible.
6.
Within 10 days of the date of the Board’s Order,
the
Petitioner
shall execute a Certificate
of Acceptance
and
Agreement which shall
be sent to the Agency at the address
specified
in condition
3,
above,
of this Order,
This certification shall have
the following form:
I,
(We) ___________________________________, having read the
Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board
in PCB 85—49 dated
April
18,
1985, understand and accept said Order,
realizing that
such acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto binding
and enforceable.
Petitioner
~y:
~uthorized Agent
Title
Date
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
Board Members
J,
Marlin
and B.
Forcade concurred,
83-520
—5—
I, Dorothy M.
Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify that the above Opinion and Order was
adopted on the
/9~
day of
__________________,
1985 by
a vote
of
?-O
.
Dorothy M.
Gunn,
C erk
Illinois
ollution Control Board
63-521