ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

April

29,

1982

VILLAGE

OF BLOOMINGDALE, and URBAN

)

DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT CORPORATION,

)

Petitioners,

V.

)

PCB

81—207

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by J.

Anderson):

This matter comes before the Board on the December 30,

1981

petition for variance filed by the Village of Bloomingdale

(Village)

and Urban Investment and Development Corporation

(Urban

Investment).

The Petitioners seek a variance from the 1 mg/i

barium limitation of Rule 304(B) (4)

of Chapter

6:

Public Water

Supplies until January

1,

1984, with an interim limit of

4 mg/i.

On February 8,

1982 the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency (Agency)

filed its Recommendation in support of the grant

of variance, with conditions,

until January

1,

1984.

On February

17,

1982, the Board ordered that hearing in this matter be held,

as neither the petition nor recommendation addressed a concern

that was raised

in an untimely filed objection about the effects

upon the levels of individual wells.

On April

16,

1982 a

hearing was held at which members of the public were present and

participated~

While the parties had indicated their intent to

submit briefs following the hearing, as decision in this matter

is due today the Board is deciding the case without benefit of

briefs

The

Village

of Bloomingdale, DuPage County,

supplies water

~o

its

population

of

approximately 13,000 citizens from three deep

wells

(Nos,

2,

7,

and

8)

and

one

shallow well

(No,

5).

Urban

Investment

installed well

#8 in

accordance with an annexation

agreement with the Village.

All the wells are interconnected

with the Village~sdistribution system.

Well

#8 at the well

head was found to contain 3.54 mg/i of barium

(Ex.

G)

and barium

levels ranging from 1.03 to 4,75 mg/i were found

in numerous

samples of the welles finished water before blending collected

in

1980 and 1981

(Ex.

H).

In 1979,

Urban Investment announced plans to construct a

shopping center that,

in accordance with the annexation agreement,

46

205

---

required that Urban Investment install

an additional well

(Pet,

6,

7,

R16—18).

Meanwhile, the Village has achieved compliance with the

barium standard by a program of back-~hlendingits three low

barium

wells

into a reservoir so as to dilute the water produced

from

well

#8.

In order to maintain an adequate water supply,

the blending operation could occur only during four off-peak

hours,

although the well was designed to produce on

a continuous

basis

(Pet,,

R.

19—22),

The Village concluded that its present blending program

was

unsatisfactory because the Village needs more water capacity than

the program allows.

It considered a number of other alternatives.

Drilling another deep well as a replacement for well

#8 was

rejected because of the distinct possibility that such a new well

also would have excess

bariurn.

In addition, the Village and

Urban Investment would incur projected capital costs of $600,000

and yearly

operating costs of $145,940.

Zeolite softening

was

rejected because of projected expenditures of $400,000 in capital

costs and $70,000

in yearly

operating costs.

In this regard

Bloomingdale noted that it had a first

allocation for 2.012 mgd

(which appears

to be about 38

of their present

capacity)

of Lake

Michigan water commencing in 1985,

and that current indications

are that Bloomingdale may receive this water by 1990,

resulting in

a loss of $820,000 in zeolite softening costs

(Pet,

p.

12),

The Village is proposing to utilize a third

alternative,

the installation of

a shallow blending well that could

be piped

directly

to the reservoir for the purpose of diluting the water

from well

#8,

instead of using the other wells

in the system.

It was brought out at hearing that up to three shallow wells might

have to

be installed to reach the needed 1500 gpm

(R.

72).

This

option

would

leave a margin of 520 gpm for emergency use or

malfunctions.

Capital costs are about $250,000 and yearly

operating costs about $62,000.

Estimated completion

time for the

project, based on a starting date of January 15,

1982,

is

November

1,

1983 with operation commencing on January

1,

1984.

The hearing focused on the concerns of citizens living

in

Keeneyville,

an unincorporated community adjacent to Bloomingdale,

They have had

a long standing concern that the Villag&s shallow

wells will draw down an already threatened aquifer into which

their individual wells tap (Willis Ex,

A,

Budzik Ex.

B), and they

specifically were concerned about the effect that the new shopping

center would have,

Apparently they have been seeking a legal

binder from the Village

to protect the people

in the unincorporated

area with individual shallow wells

(R.

114—123).

Leondard

A.

Lindstrom,

the Agency~sAurora Regional Manager

of the Public Water Supply Division, asserted that this variance

~has nothing to do with whether

the

Village

can drill deep

wells

or shallow wells,

or anything like that,”

(R,

100) because “the

46—206

---

3

law on water is the

law

of capture right now,

Whoever gets

the

water can have

it”

(R.

108),

Tom Budzik,

one of the homeowners whose private well water

is drawn

from

the

limestone aquifer that is hydrogeologically

interconnected with the sand and gravel aquifer that the Village

proposes to use,

stated

“We do not want Urban Investment and

Bloomingdale to resolve their barium problem at the expense of

our well water”

(R,

115).

The Board need not address the issue of water rights ~

se.

The homeowners’

worries about possible added costs

to get water

are as legitimate

a concern in this case as are the concerns of

Urban Investment and the Village to utilize the option that is

least costly to them,

but is the only stated option that might

possibly affect the homeowners.

Essentially, the Village is requesting

a variance to solve

the water needs

of the growing community by temporarily going out

of compliance with the barium standard in order to establish the

least costly program to achieve both their needs and compliance

with the barium standard,

In response to the concerns of the

citizens present,

the Village noted

a)

that the private wells are

at too great a distance for a drawdown to occur and b) that an

observation well would be maintained

“for probably a year” after

the new well

is in operation, and monitoring beyond that time

would depend upon whether any unexpected problems occurred

(IL

80—

83,

92).

The Village pointed out that shallow wells

in a formation

that drains too quickly would be useless to them

(IL

80,

81).

The

Village stated that the utilization of well

#8 and the shallow well

would be solely dedicated to the blending operation and might be

used only six hours/day if the Village did not qrow(R.

83),

In

the Village’s petition, one of its alleged hardships was that the

present restriction on the use of well

#8 to

4 hours rather than

24 hours reduced its supply capacity by a factor of

6,

(Pet.

5,

6).

Finally, the Village noted that there have been no complaints

about its use of shallow Well

#5 from homeowners in a subdivision

whose private wells use the same limestone formation,

(IL

89,

Other hardships asserted by the Village are:

a)

because

well

#8 is operating

at only 17

rather than

the full capacity to comply with the barium standard,

Investment has lost $498,000 and the Village $18,758 yearly,

h)

because

of the repumping at night

for blending, there

are added energy costs of $6,022/year,

c)

because of inadequate supplies during the blending

operation, the system does not always comply with the “assuredly

...adequate

in quantity” provisions of Section 18 of the Act,

46—20 7

---

4

The Agency does not disagree with the facts and assertions

presented

by

the Village.

The Agency recommends

that variance

relief be made available only

through January

1,

1984, the

deadline for exemptions under §1416 of the Safe Drinking Water

Act

(SDWA),

In light of

the

Village’s difficulties in maintaining a

sufficient water supply

while complying

with the barium standard

and the fact that

the

elevated consumption of barium until

a new

blending system is installed is unlikely to threaten human health,

the Board finds that denial

of variance would impose an arbitrary

or

unreasonable hardship.

The economic

hardship to the homeowners

using private wells

is speculative at this time.

However, the

Board will

include a condition in

its Order to provide some reas-

surance to

all concerned,

including the Petitioners, namely, that

the results

during a one—year

monitoring effortafter the shallow

wells commence

operation be made

available upon request.

The

requested

variance from Rule 304(B)(4)

of Chapter

6 is hereby

granted until January

1,

1984,

subject

to conditions as outlined

ORDER

1.

Petitioner,

the Village

of Bloomingdale and the Illinois

Urban Investment

and Development

Corporation, are hereby granted

variance

from the 1,0 mg/l barium

standard of Rule 304(B) (4)

of

Chapter

6:

Public Water Supplies

until January

1,

1984,

subject

to the

following conditions:

a)

Petitioner shall take all reasonable measures

to

minimize the level of barium in its finished

water during

the period when the Petitioner cannot avoid exceeding the

barium standard during the installation of

a

new blending

program.

In no event shall the barium

level

be allowed to

exceed

4,0 mg/i,

b)

Pursuant

to

Rule 313(D)(1) of Chapter

6,

in its

first

set of water bills

or within

three months after the

date

of this Order,

whichever occurs first,

and every three

months thereafter,

Petitioner will send to each user of its

public water supply a written notice to

the effect that

Petitioner has been granted a

variance from the barium

standards by the Pollution Control Board,

The notice

shall state the average barium content including

available

results from samples taken since the last notice period.

c)

Petitioner shall maintain an observation well and

test the water

level at least monthly for

one year

after

any

new shallow water supply well commences operations,

The

Village shall maintain the results of

such monitoring and

shall make such information available to the

public upon

request.

46—208

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5

2.

Within forty-five days of the date of this Order,

Petitioner shall execute and forward to the Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency,

Enforcement Programs,

2200 Churchill Road,

Springfield,

Illinois

62706,

a Certificate of Acceptance and

Agreement

to

be bound to all terms and conditions of this variance,

This

forty-five day period shall be held in

abeyance for any

period this matter is being appealed,

The form of the certificate

shall

be as follows:

CERTIFICATE

I,

(We),

____________

___________________,

having read

the

Order of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board in PCB 81-207,

dated

___________

________________,

understand

and accept

the said Order,

realizing that such acceptance renders

all terms

and

conditions thereto binding and enforceable,

Petitioner

By:

Title

Date

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Board

Member

Goodman concurred,

I,

Christan L.

Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois

Pollution

Control hereby

cert,kfy that the

above Qpinion and Order were

adopted on the~

day ~

1982 by a

C~i~IA

~

Christan

L,

Mof e

,~

Clerk

Illinois Pollutio

ontrol Board

46—209