ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

December 2, 1976

VILLAGE OF BETHANY,

)

)

Petitioner,

)

v.

)

PCB 76—230

)

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

)

Respondent.

)

OPINION

AND

ORDER

OF

THE

BOARD

(by

Mr.

Young):

This

matter

comes

before

the

Board

on

a

variance

petition

filed September 10, 1976, by the Village of Bethany seeking

relief from Rules 203(c) and 402 of Chapter 3:

Water Pollution

Rules and Regulations as those rules apply to phosphorus.

The

Agency filed a Recommendation on November 5, 1976; no hearing

was held in this matter.

The Village of Bethany is located in Moultrie County and

has an existing sewage collection system and a treatment facility

consisting of a contact stabilization plant, polishing lagoon

and chlorination; the treatment facility is not capable of

meeting existing effluent standards

(Pet.

1).

Petitioner has

developed a facilities plan under a Step 1 grant to upgrade the

existing facilities by the addition of ammonia nitrogen removal

and mechanical filtration processes

(Pet.

2) and the final

effluent,

after chlorination, will be discharged to an unnamed

tributary of Marrowbone Creek which is tributary to Lake Shelby-

ville

(Pet.

3).

Marrowbone Creek has a 7-day 10-year low flow

of zero; Petitioner discharges approximately one mile upstream

from the point where the stream enters Lake Shelbyville

(Rec.

2).

Put’

pre~wn;pd Inc

i

Ii

L.y

Ii,i:;

a

1k’!;

I

cm

.ivc’rat;i’

I.

1

ow

ni

0.

20

Mci)

1ijiti

I

un

.111’

,nq’uttxim.iLt’Iy

I

mCi

Iu’I—unn:;

~i

liii

II

lilt’

•tfl’uI

$0

I)’’

served by

the

projected

improvements

to the treatment works which

are expected to be completed by March 15, 1979

(Pet.

2,

4).

Capi-

tal cost of the proposed treatment plant improvements is $437,000.00

(Pet.

6).

Land aoplication was investigated by Petitioner as an

alternative means of disposal, however,

the estimated capital cost

of $957,000.00 and significantly increased annual operating and

maintenance costs precluded further consideration of land applica-

tion as a viable treatment alternative for the Petitioner

(Pet.

6,

7).

24—349

---

—2—

Rule 203(c)

sets a

standard of 0.05 mg/l 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

the

effluent

not

contribute

to

a

violation

of

the

Rule

203(c)

water

quality

standard.

The

phosphorus

concentration

in Marrowbone Creek as it enters Lake Shelbyville presently

exceeds

.05 mg/l; therefore,

the effluent is water quality

limited to the Rule 203(c) standard of

.05 mg/l phosphorus.

If the proposed treatment facility does not meet the

.05 mg/l

standard of Rule 203(c), the Agency cannot issue a construction

permit or award a construction grant unless the Village first

obtains a variance from the Board.

The Village alleges that there is no technically feasible

method of attaining the phosphorus standard for its discharge

(Pet.

8).

Furthermore, while the Village did consider pumping

the effluent into an adjacent watershed as well as land appli-

cation, these alternatives were considered impractical for

economic reasons

(Pet.

7,

8).

Survey data from the USEPA National Eutrophication Survey

indicates that the total loading from the Bethany wastewater

treatment facility contributes 0.5

of the total phosphorus

loading to Lake Shelbyville and that no nuisance conditions

were observed during the survey.

Lake Shelbyville is not

utilized as a public water supply but is used for flood con-

trol and recreation

(Pet.

3,

4).

On January 5,

1976, the Agency filed a Petition for Regu-

latory Change

(R76-l) with the Board which would amend the

Regulations by requiring only point sources who have 1500 or

more population equivalent to treat wastewater to a level not

to exceed

1 mg/l 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 Survey show that the contribution of point

source dischargers to the total phosphorus nroblom of lakes

.,nel

rn:;nrv~ir ::

j

:;

s;tii.i)

1

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jul

rc~nlri hut

I

fl.

‘I’Iu

A’

j. •iu~’

::uul o’u

it

:;

I

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in

‘ii

i “‘liii

:;t,ui

i

~.

,

:;uut ‘Ii

.u~:

p

pjpu•—ip

I

I

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ii’ft!

lii

iii

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ls’u

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i

I

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wi

lii

pluuuplu.sli’

l’.u::t’

ls’il

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ii :~t’u

:;

,

.ut•count_

I

or

the

overwht’

inn

ncj

majority

a)

kite

pitouphorus

loading of most lakes and reservoirs.

The denial of this variance would prevent

the

Village from

utilizing State/Federal grant funds to assist in the construction

of a much needed sewacye treatment plant.

Balancing this hard-

ship with the small contribution the discharge will make to the

Lake Shelbyville phosphorus problem leads the Board to believe

24-350

---

—3—

that

the

Villaqe

is entitled

to relief.

The Board will require,

however,

that

the Village design and construct

the

sewaqe

treat—

nent plant

to allow for

the

possible future

installation

of

aporooriate

ohosphorus remo~aIfacilities.

This

Opinion

constitutes

the

Boardvs findinos of fact

and

conclusions

of

law

in

this

matter.

ORDER

The Village of Bethany is granted a variance for

the

onera-

tion of its proposed sewage treatment plant from Rules

203(c)

and 402

of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution Regulations

as reqards

phosphorus

until December

1,

1981, subject to the followinq

conditions:

1.

This variance will terminate upon adoption by the Board

of any modification of the existing phosphorus water quality

standards and effluent limitations and the Village of Bethany

shall comply with such revised regulations when adopted by the

Board.

2.

The sewage treatment plant shall he designed and con-

structed to allow

for the possible future installation of appro-

priate phosphorus

removal facilities.

3.

Within

35 days of the date of this Order, the Village

of

Bethany

shall submit to the Manager, Variance Section, Divi-

sion

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 he

as follows:

CERTIFICATION

I,

(We)

,

havinc read

h

Ordni

o~

~

I~I

I uI i~n (on(

~

~)fl(

it~

fl(’h

7(~—2P),

t~I(l(I~t~I~d

,~I~(I

(‘~pI

~ii’l

()idt~,

4’~I

th~l

~H•~’LHH’~

ii~h~t~

ill lHt~

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lW::

huid

iw~j end unlorceable.

SIGNED

TITLE

DATE

24

—

351

---

—4—

IT

IS

SO ORDERED.

I,

Christan

L. Moffett,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, here~~certify

the

hove Opinion and

Order

were

adopted

on

the

________

day of

—~

____

,

1976

by

a vote

of

4-~

~stanL~offet~

Illinois Pollution

o trol Board

24

—