ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    September
    2
    ,
    1976
    ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
    VANDALIA CORRECTIONAL CENTER,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 76—172
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Young):
    This matter comes before the Board on the variance petition
    filed June
    16,
    1976 by the Illinois Department of Corrections
    for the Vandalia Correctional Center seeking relief from Rules
    203(c)
    and 402 of Chapter
    3:
    Water Pollution Rules and Regulations
    as regards phosphorus.
    The Agency filed
    a Recommendation on
    August
    2,
    1976;
    no hearing was held in this matter.
    At the present time, Petitioner owns and operates a sewage
    treatment plant consisting of a comminutor, a primary settling
    tank, trickling filter, secondary settling tank and a heated
    digester with floating cover,
    and which treats approximately
    150,000 GPD of domestic waste.
    The plant was installed
    in 1953
    to treat sewage from a design population equivalent of 2,460 per-
    sons.
    The treatment plant’s effluent, which contains 5.8 mg/l
    phosphorus,
    is discharged to the Kaskaskia River which
    is tribu-
    tary
    to the Carlyle Lake Reservoir.
    Rule 203(c)
    sets a standard of 0.05 mg/i for phosphorus
    as
    P in any reservoir or lake or in any stream at the point where
    it enters any reservoir or lake and Rule 402 requires that Peti-
    tioner’s effluent not contribute to
    a violation of the Rule 203(c)
    water quality standard.
    Because the phosphorus concentration in
    the Kaskaskia River as it enters the Carlyle Reservoir presently
    exceeds
    0.05 mg/l, the Petitioner’s effluent is water quality
    limited to the Rule 203(c) standard of 0.05 mg/l phosphorus.
    Petitioner plans
    to make some modifications to its treatment
    plant which include the construction of chlorination facilities
    as well as the addition of phosphorus removal facilities utilizing
    chemical precipitation with aluminum sulfate.
    With the use of
    23 —407

    —2—
    chemical
    precipitation,
    the effluent phosphorus concentration
    will be reduced to
    1 mg/i.
    Because the treatment plant effluent
    is water quality limited to 0.05 rng/l phosphorus, Petitioner
    seeks this variance from that standard so that a construction
    permit can be obtained from the Agency for the phosphorus removal
    facilities.
    Petitioner submits that there is no feasible method of
    attaining the 0.05 mg/i standard for its discharge.
    While the
    Petitioner did consider pumping the effluent into an adjacent
    watershed as well as land application,
    these alternatives were
    considered undesirable for economic reasons.
    Based upon the USEPA National Eutrophication Report, the
    annual total phosphorus loading to Carlyle Reservoir is 316,630
    Kg/yr.
    Assuming 5.8 mg/i phosphorus and an average flow rate
    of
    .150 MGD,
    the phosphorus loading from Petitioner’s facility
    is presently about 7.25 lbs/day which represents approximately
    0.3
    of the total.
    With the addition of the new phosphorus
    removal facilities,
    the phosphorus loading will be reduced to
    about 1.25 lbs/day,
    or approximately 0.06
    of the total.
    On January 5,
    1976,
    the Agency filed a Petition for Regula-
    tory Change
    (R76-l) with the Board which would amend the Regula-
    tions by requiring point sources which have 1500 or more population
    equivalent to treat wastewater to a level not to exceed
    1 mg/i
    prior to discharge.
    As justification for this proposal the Agency
    submits that eutrophication studies by both the United States
    Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois State Water Sur-
    vey reveal that the contribution of point source discharges to the
    total phosphorus problem of lakes and reservoirs is small compared
    to the non-point contribution.
    The Agency submits that non-point
    sources, such as run-off waters from farm lands fertilized with
    phosphate base fertilizers, account for the overwhelming majority
    of the phosphorus loading of most lakes and reservoirs.
    After weighing the high costs associated with complying with
    the 0.05 mg/i phosphorus standard aqainst the extremely small
    contribution that Petitioner’s discharge will make to the Carlyie
    Reservoir phosphorus problem,
    the Board is disposed to grant the
    relief requested.
    Until the phosphorus removal facilities are
    completed,
    the discharge from the plant shall not exceed the
    present phosphorus concentration of 5.8 mg/i.
    Furthermore, upon
    the completion of treatment plant improvements
    in August,
    1977,
    Petitioner will be required to produce an effluent which does not
    contain more than 1.0 mg/i phosphorus.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and con-
    clusions of law in this matter.
    23
    408

    —3—
    ORDER
    The Vandalia Correctional Center is granted a variance for
    the operation of its sewage treatment plant from Rules 203(c)
    and 402 of Chapter
    3:
    Water Pollution Regulations as regards
    phosphorus until September 1,
    1981, subject to the following con-
    ditions:
    1.
    Until the completion of the phosphorus removal facilities
    in August of 1977, the current phosphorus discharge concentration
    of 5.8 mg/i shall not be exceeded on a monthly average.
    2.
    Upon the completion of the phosphorus removal facilities
    in August 1977, the plant’s discharge shall not exceed 1.0 mg/i
    phosphorus.
    3.
    This variance will terminate upon adoption by the Board
    of any modification of the existing phosphorus water quality
    standards or effluent limitations and the Petitioner shall comply
    with such revised regulations when adopted by the Board.
    4.
    Within 35 days of the date of this Order, the Vandalia
    Correctional Center shall submit to the Manager, Variance Section,
    Division of Water Pollution Control,
    Illinois Environmental Pro-
    tection 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 76-172,
    understand and accept said Order, realizing that such
    acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto
    binding and enforceable.
    SIGNED
    TITLE
    DATE
    IT IS SO ORDERED.

    —4—
    I, Christan L.
    Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board, hereby certify the a ove Opinion and Order were
    adopted on the
    ~
    day of
    ________________,
    1976 by a
    7~I~
    e’~
    Christan
    L. Moffett, C~k
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
    23—410

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