ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    September
    2,
    1976
    MRS.
    GENE HIGHT,
    )
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 76—175
    ENVIRONNENTAL PROTECTION
    )
    AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    OPINION
    Z~ND
    ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Goodman):
    On June 17,
    1976,
    Lamplighter Realty Company filed a Petition
    for Variance before the Pollution Control Board
    (Board)
    seeking
    variance for Mrs.
    Gene Hight from an Agency imposed sewer ban on
    connections to the Round Lake Beach sewer system.
    Mrs. Hight seeks
    variance to allow the issuance of sanitary sewer service permits to
    serve two unimproved lots located in the Village of Round Lake
    Beach,
    Illinois.
    The Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency)
    filed its recommendation on August
    4,
    1976.
    No hearing has been
    held in this matter.
    In its recommendation,
    the Agency outlines the serious problems
    which the Round Lake Sanitary District
    (RLSD) currently faces.
    The
    Sanitary District’s sewage treatment plant,
    to which any waste—
    waters generated on the lots in question would be transported,
    is
    severely overloaded.
    Design average flow for the plant is 1.63
    MGD.
    Maximum flow which can receive treatment is 3.2 MGD.
    Flows
    in excess of the maximum are diverted to a three cell lagoon system
    and are chlorinated before discharge.
    Effluent is discharged into
    a ditch, referred to as Round Lake Creek, tributary to Long Lake.
    Agency sampling conducted during March,
    1976,
    and Monthly Operating
    —2—
    Reports submitted by Round Lake Sanitary District reveal the follow—
    ing results:
    ROUND
    LAKE
    SANITARY
    DISTRICT
    AGENCY
    SAMPLING
    BOD
    SS
    P
    NH3
    FC
    Date
    mg/i
    mg/i
    mg/i
    mg/i
    no./l00
    ml
    3/24/76
    (grab)
    17
    12
    4.4
    9.8
    —
    3/25/76
    (grab)
    8
    13
    4.1
    11.0
    100
    3/25/76
    (24 hr.
    corn—
    22
    23
    3.5
    10.0
    —
    P05 ite)
    3/26/76
    (grab)
    8
    14
    4.0
    14.0
    3/26/76
    (24 hr.
    com—
    8
    10
    4.2
    14.0
    posite)
    Due to a pump failure, unchiorinated secondary treatment
    effluent was being discharged directly to Round Lake Creek on the
    dates indicated in the following table.
    Agency grab samples taken
    of this secondary treated effluent reveal:
    BOD
    SS
    P
    NH3
    Fecal Coliform
    Date
    rng/l
    mg/l
    mg/i
    mg/i
    no./lOO ml
    3/24/76
    100
    60
    3.7
    12.0
    1,200,000
    3/25/76
    140
    60
    3.8
    11.0
    3/26/76
    150
    55
    4.0
    13.0
    1,600,000
    The Agency also submitted a summary of effluent characteristics,
    derived from RLSD monthly operating reports.
    The reported flow does
    not include bypass flow to the lagoon system.
    Further, the Agency
    suggests that the reported flow may reflect less than actual flow
    due to the fact that flow meters are occasionally
    flooded.
    No. Days Bypassed
    Month
    Flow MGD
    to Lagoon
    BOD
    SS
    Apr.
    ‘76
    3.1
    16
    8
    17
    Mar.
    ‘76
    2.98
    15
    17
    11
    Feb.
    ‘76
    3.076
    11
    26
    17
    Jan.
    ‘76
    3.015
    0
    22
    16
    Dec.
    ‘75
    2.95
    0
    3
    20
    The high flows tributary
    to the treatment plant are apparently due
    —3—
    to excessive inflow/infiltration.
    Round Lake Beach sewers are not
    capable of handling wet weather flows.
    According to the Agency,
    this situation results
    in surcharging and numerous backups.
    Agency
    files on Round Lake Beach reveal many recent complaints involving
    sewer backups and basement flooding problems.
    The Agency also believes that Long Lake
    is in an advanced stage
    of eutrophication, which is aggravated by discharges from the RLSD
    sewage treatment plant.
    The Agency indicates that an attempt to im-
    prove the deteriorated condition of the lake is presently being
    pursued, but it is not known if this system, which involves an aera-
    tion system in part of the lake, will be successful.
    Mrs. Hight requests the variance in order to allow sale of the
    property so that she may use the proceeds to pay a sewer assessment
    currently being levied on property she owns in Clarendon Hills.
    Mrs.
    Hight’s petition suggests that she
    is elderly and has no other source
    of income from which to obtain the funds
    for this purpose.
    Mrs.
    Hight, however,
    has not indicated that she will be unable to sell the
    property without the requested variance,
    and she has not presented
    the Board with a valuation of her land, with and without a sewer
    system.
    Round Lake Beach and the Round Lake Sanitary District pre-
    sently face very serious sewage treatment problems.
    The Board finds
    that the public harm caused by the sewer backups and basement flood—
    ings in Round Lake Beach,
    the severely overloaded sewage treatment
    plant of the RLSD, and the deteriorated condition of Long Lake out-
    weigh the hardship alleged by Mrs.
    Hight.
    The Board,
    therefore,
    denies the requested variance.
    This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions
    of law of the Board in this matter.
    ORDER
    It is the Order of the Pollution Control Board that the petition
    for variance from Rule 962 of the Water Regulations,
    submitted by
    Lamplighter Realty Company for Mrs.
    Gene Hight, be and is hereby
    denied.
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board,
    ereby
    certify the above Opinion and Order wer~adopted on
    the
    ~
    day ~
    1976 by a vote
    of’S”~.i)
    Christan L. Moffe~i/)Clerk
    Illinois Pollutioih-~bntrolBoard

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