RECEXVED
CLERKS
OFFICE
10119/00
OCT 2 3 2000
Gary Hougen
STATE OFIW~j~
607
Kirkwoocf~~utb0fl
Control
Board
WinthropHarbor, IL 60096
Dorothy Gunn, Clerk
‘1,l7~~
0/
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Illinois Pollution Control Board
100 W, Randolph
Chicago, IL
Dear Ms. Gunn,
I wish to file a comment re: docket ROl-lO, peaker plant permitting near Zion, Illinois.
My specific comment concerns heightened nitrate ion content in groundwater during
summer low- flow water conditions.
Heightened nitrate (N03) content has been linkedto
various illnesses in drinking water, such as methemoglobinemia in children (American
Academy ofPediatrics,
Infant Methemoglobinemia: The Role ofDietaryNitrate.
46.3,
September 1970, p.
475).
Heightened nitrates would occur as the ambientlevel ofthis
ion is increased during cooling water usage by (water- cooled) peaker plants.
The ambient level ofN03 in ground water is already high in Illinois, due to widespread
nitrate fertilizer application; please see the attached map showing commercial nitrogen
fertilizór leaching vulnerability (Kellogg, R. L., et.
a!.
Potential Priority Watersheds for
Protection ofWater Quality from Nonpoint Sources Related to Agriculture.
Poster
presentation at
52~
Annual
SWCS Conference,
1997).
In addition, the USEPA
classifies thenortheastern Illinois watersheds as subject to “more serious water quality
problems” generally.
I would request that the Pollution Control Board develop a protocol to assure that
drinking water ofthose households on well waterin the vicinity ofthe proposed peaker
plant would not incur a significant deterioration from their operation.
Hopefully, the
protocol would demonstrate through engineering studies that the EPA limit of loppm
would not be exceeded.
truly,
4.
Page
1 of I
Commercial
Nitrogen
Fertilizer
Leaching
Vulnerability
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