ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    March
    3
    ,
    1977
    VILLAGE OF RAMSEY,
    )
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 77-12
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Young):
    This matter comes before the Board on the variance
    petition filed on January 11,
    1977,
    by the Village of
    Ramsey seeking relief from Rules 203(c),
    402 and 404(f)(i)
    of the Water Pollution Regulations as regards phosphorus.
    The Agency Recommendation favorable to the grant of the
    variance was filed on February
    10, 1977.
    The Board has dealt with many similar petitions in
    which relief was sought from the requirement of meeting
    the phosphorus water quality standard.
    Village of Argenta
    and Village of Cerro Gordo, PCB 75-182, PCB 75-183,
    18 PCB
    152; Village of Strasburq,
    PCB 76—28; Old Ben Coal Compa~y~,
    PCB 76-21; City of Hoopeston,
    PCB 76-234.
    The Village of
    Ramsey,
    with a population of approximately 830, presently
    operates a single-cell lagoon treatment facility which is
    incapable of meeting the minimum effluent discharge standards
    as established in our Regulations.
    In view of this and with
    the help of State/Federal funds, the Village proposes to
    utgrade its facilities
    to include a two-cell aerated lagoon
    with
    a submerged sand filter and chlorination.
    The proposed
    facility has a designed average flow of
    1.02,500 qpd, and
    will produce an
    cff.ucnt
    quality of
    30 my/I
    BOD,
    30 mq/l
    suspended solids,
    and
    5 mg/i phosphorus.
    Aqency approval
    for either Step II or III funding
    is contingent upon either
    the Village obtaining
    this variance or upon the Village
    providing the required phosphorus removal.
    The Village
    alleges that providing the required phosphorus removal would
    impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the Village.
    Although the Agency does not soecifically
    so state in
    this Recommendation,
    the Agency has on prior occasions stated
    that recuiring phosphorus removal to the 0.05 mg/l level is
    25
    —
    55
    —2—
    not both technically feasible and economically reasonable.
    Consistent with this belief,
    the Agency has filed a Petition
    for Regulatory Change
    (R76-l) with the Board which would
    amend the regulations by requiring only point sources which
    have 1500 or more population equivalents and which discharge
    into impoundments of greater than twenty acres to treat the
    wastewater to a level not to exceed 1 mg/l prior to discharge.
    Because the Village’s expected waste load is only 830 popula-
    tion equivalent,
    the Village will not be required to provide
    any phosphorus removal if the regulation
    is adopted as proposed.
    The Board is disposed to grant the relief requested.
    As
    in the earlier cited cases,
    the Board finds here that the
    Village would suffer an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship
    if required to meet the 0.05 mg/i phosphorus water quality
    standard.
    This Ooinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
    conclusions of law in this matter.
    ORDER
    The Village of Ramsey is granted a variance for the opera-
    tion of its proposed sewage treatment plant from Rules 203(c),
    402 and 404(f)(i) of Chapter
    3:
    Water Pollution Control Regu-
    lations as regards phosphorus until March
    1,
    1982, subject
    to the following conditions:
    1.
    This variance will terminate upon adoption by the
    Board of any modification
    of the existing phosphorus water
    quality standards and effluent limitations and the Village
    shall comply with such revised regulations when adopted by
    the Board.
    2.
    Within 35 days of the date of this Order,
    the Peti-
    tioner shall submit to the Manager, Variance Section, Division
    of Water Pollution Control, Illinois Environmental Protection
    Agency,
    2200 Churchill
    Road, Springfield,
    IllinoIs,
    62706, an
    executed Certification of Acceptance and agreement to be bound
    to all terms and conditions of the variance.
    The form of said
    certification shall be as follows:
    CERTIFICATION
    I,
    (We), ___________________________
    having read
    the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 77-12,
    understand and accept said Order, realizing that such
    acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto
    binding and enforceable.
    25-56
    —3—
    SI
    GNED
    TITLE
    DATE
    IT
    IS
    SO
    ORDEPED.
    I,
    Christan
    L.
    Moffett,
    Clerk
    of
    the
    Illinois
    Pollution
    Control
    Board,
    her~1~y
    certify
    the above Opinion and Order were
    adooted
    on
    the
    ~
    day of
    _________________
    ,
    1977 by
    a vote of ~
    ~1~k
    hristan L.
    Illinois Pol1ution~ntrol Board
    25
    —
    57

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