ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January

10, 1980

CITY OF MT.

VERNON,

Petitioner,

V.

)

PCB 79~226

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr. Dumelle):

Petitioner has requested a variance from Rules

1201,

1202, and

1203 of Chapter 3:

Water Pollution.

The Agency

has recommended that the variance be granted subject to

conditions. No hearing was held.

Petitioner operates

a sewage treatment facility with a

design average flow of 3,8

million

gallons per day.

The

facility includes

primary clarification,

a trickling filter,

vacuum

backwash,

sand filtration, reaeration,

anaerobic

digestion,

and chlorination,

The facility should be

operated by a certified Class

I operator, but Petitioner has

been unable to obtain

the services of a Class

I operator

since March,

1979.

Petitioner

is asking for

a waiver of the

Agency~sprerequisites for a

Class

I examination,

so that

its present Class

II operator can be properly certified.

Petitioner claims that there are no Class

I

operators

available in the vicinity

and that an undue financial

hardship would result if Petitioner were forced to bring

someone

in who does not live

in the area.

The present

operator~ssalary fits

within Petitioner~s

operating budget.

Petitioner feels that

it should not

be required to increase

its user charge to accommodate another operator.

No

details

as to

costs were given.

The present operator,

Mr., Harvey

Neal,

has been carrying out his duties

admirably.

Mr. Neal

has been employed by Petitioner as a Class II operator since

April,

1976.

37-141

---

In its Recommendation, the Agency states that Mr. Neal

has achieved above average scores

in the class he has taken

towards his Class

I certification and that he has

12 to

15

months experience remaining before he can sit for his

examination.

The Agency confirms that Mr. Neal

has

instituted several improvements

in operation and maintenance

since he

took

over and is capable of operating Petitioner~s

facility until he has received the proper training.

A

review of Petitioner~sdischarge monitoring reports

from July 1978 to September 1979 shows no violations

of

Petitioner~sNPDES effluent limitations for BOD5 and

suspended solids.

The Agency feels that it cannot recommend a grant of a

variance unless Petitioner

is required to maintain a staff

of eight

to operate its facility around the clock,

While a

staff of eight does not meet the federally recommended level

of 10-~13people, the Agency feels that eight persons

can

operate the facility efficiently and effectively,

The Board concludes that denial of variance would

constitute arbitrary and unreasonable hardship.

Petitioner

has secured

a competent supervisor in Mr.

Neal and should

not be required to incur additional expense

as long as Mr.

Neal

progresses towards Class

I certification,

The Board

has seen no

reason to waive any training requirements

for

Mr. Neal

arid consequently relief

in this matter will not

address that issue.

The

federal regulations cited by the

Agency appear to be

germane to Petitioner~sconstruction

grant,

but they are not relevant in evaluating a variance

from Part XII of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution,

Consequently

the Board will not condition relief on any minimum staffing

level,

Small communities such as Mt. Vernon should be

allowed maximum flexibility

in

staffing and should only be

held accountable for results,

This Opinion constitutes

the

Board~sfindings of fact

and

conclusions of law in this matter,

ORDER

1.

Petitioner

is hereby granted a variance from Rule 1201

of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution until May

1,

1981

or

upon the termination of employment of Mr.

Harvey Neal,

or upon the employment by Petitioner of a Class

I

operator,

whichever occurs first, provided that

Petitioner~ssewage

treatment facilities

shall

be

operated under the

best

practicable operation and

37—142

---

maintenance practices,

2.

Petitioner~srequest

for a variance from Rules

1203 of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution is hereby denied,

3,

Within 45 days of the

date

of this Order,

Petitioner

shall

execute a certification of acceptance and

agreement to be bound to the terms and

conditions of

this variance.

The 45 day period shall

be held

in

abeyance

if this matter

is appealed.

The certification

shall

be

forwarded to the Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency, Division of Water Pollution

Control,

Variance Unit,

2200

Churchill

Road,

Springfield,

Illinois 62706 and shall read as follows:

CERTIFICATION

I

(We),

,

having

read and fully understanding the

Order

in PCB 79-226 hereby

accept that Order and agree to be bound

by all of

its

terms

and conditions,

SIGNED _______________________________

TITLE

_______________________________

DATE

________________________________

4,

The Agéncy~smotion for leave

to file its Recommendation

22 days

late

is hereby granted.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Christan L.

Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control

Board, hereby certify~hat the above

inion and

Order were adopted on the

/0

day

of

l98obyavoteof

~O

—,

0)

Christan

L. Moffett,

rk

Illinois

Pollution Co

rol Board

37—143