ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May
10,
1979
URBANA AND
CHAMPAIGN SANITARY DISTRICT,
Petitioner,
V.
)
PCB 79-50
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION
AND
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Dr. Satchell):
On March
9, 1979 the Urbana and Champaign Sanitary District
(District)
filed a petition requesting a variance from Rule
602(b)
of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Regulations, which pro-
scribes excess infiltration and sanitary sewer overflows.
On
February 16,
1978 the District was granted a variance from
Rule 602(b)
as well as water quality and effluent Rules
(PCB
77-271,
29 PCB 219),
Condition
3 of that variance provided:
The District shall abate overflows from sanitary sewers
by making necessary improvements so
as to comply with Rule
602(b)
.
.
.
in accordance with the project completion
schedule containing the following schedule:
a.
Completion
of p1ar~s
and specifications by June 30,
1978.
b.
Completion of construction by June 30, 1979.
In this petition District
seeks
to postpone application of
Rule 602(b)
to a date not later than June 30, 1981,
The Environ-~
mental Protection
Agency
(Agency)
filed a recommendation to grant
the variance with conditions.
The District thereafter withdrew
its request for a hearing.
No hearing was held.
The District operates two sewage treatment plants with a
combined design
capacity of 21 MGD and a 1978 average flow of
17 MGD.
The Northeast plant, with a capacity
of
16 MGD, dis-
charges into the Saline Branch Drainage Ditch, which is tributary
to the West Branch of the Salt Fork of the
Vermilion River.
This
plant is capable of giving primary treatment before bypassing
during periods of heavy flow.
The Southwest plant, with a
capacity of
5 MGD, discharges into Copper slough,
an intermittent
stream tributary to the Kaskaskia Ditch and River.
Inflow and
infiltration result in hydraulic overloading and bypassing during
wet weather
(Rec.
2).
33—47
1
—2—
On October 31,
1977 the District accepted a Municipal
Wastewater Treatment Construction Grant offer for Step II,
Design
(Pet.
4,
Rec,
2).
The District was unable to complete
its plans and specifications by June 30,
1978 because of severe
winter weather and the unanticipated need to televise twenty-
four sections of the system where conventional methods failed
to disclose the location of storm sewer interconnections
~Ex.
C).
Preliminary studies had indicated that televising was
unnecessary and the Step
II grant was inadequate to cover the
cost,
The planning was delayed by the need to obtain an
additional grant to cover the cost of televising, which was
obtained on August 15,
1978
(Pet.
6).
The plans and specifi-
cations to eliminate interconnections were completed by Febru-
ary 14,
1979 and a Step III grant application is currently
under consideration by the Agency.
The Agency believes the
District acted in good faith to
mitigate the
delay
(Rec.
2),
In PCB 77-271,
the District obtained variances through
June 30, 1981 from water quality and
effluent
standards of
Rules 203(f),
402,
403,
404(f) (ii)
and 405,
The pleadings
before
the
Board contain no information concerning quantity
and
types of materials discharged, water quality and effect on
receiving streams,
These were discussed in the earlier pro-
ceeding and it is assumed that they are unchanged.
The District alleges that $775,300 will be required to
effect compliance with Rule 602(b)
(Pet.
8).
It is unable to
finance the upgrading without a grant and
it
would be ineligible
for the grant if it began construction prior to acceptance of
a
grant offer.
The Board finds that
it
would impose an arbitrary
and unreasonable hardship to require the District to comply
with Rule 602(b) by June
30,
1979 and that the schedule of
compliance proposed is reasonable and will result in abatement
of existing violations when completed.
This Opinion constitutes
the Board~s
findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter,
ORDER
The Urbana and Champaign Sanitary District
is granted
a
variance from Rule 602(b)
of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Reg-
ulations, subject to the following conditions:
1.
The variance shall terminate twelve months after the
District accepts a Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Works Construction Grant offer, Step III, Construction,
but in no event later than June 30,
1981,
33—472
—3—
2.
The District shall take all actions appropriate to
Step III of the grants program in a timely manner
both before and after receipt of any grant.
3.
Within forty-five days of the date of this Order,
Petitioner shall execute and forward to the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency, Variance Section,
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:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We), _________________________,
having
read and fully understanding the Order in PCB 79-50,
hereby accept that Order and agree to be bound by all
of its terms and conditions.
SIGNED _______________________
TITLE
_________________________
DATE
___________________________
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereb; certify the above Opinion and Order were
adop~on
the
/0
day of
Q~,
1979 by a vote
cA~Ll/?2
Christan L. Moff
,
Cle~k
Illinois Pollution
ontrol Board
33—473