RECEJVED

CLERK’S OFF!CE

BEFORE THE

BOARD

ML\R

6

2002

STATE OF

ILLINOIS

Pollution

Control Board

IN THE MATTER OF:

)

)

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO AMMONIA

)

R02-19

NITROGEN

STANDARDS

35111.

Adm. Code

)

302.212, 302.213, and 304.122

)

)

NOTICE OF FILING

Please see attached Service List

PLEASE TAKE

NOTICE

that I have today filed with the Office ofthe Clerk ofthe

Pollution Control Board the PREFILED TESTIMONY OF ROBERT MOSHER ofthe Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency, a copy of which is herewith

served

upon you.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

OFTHE STATE OF ILLINOIS

~LQY~~J~

tAQ)~~m

Deborah J. Willia

Assistant Counsel

Division of Legal Counsel

DATED:

March 1, 2002

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

1021

North Grand Avenue

East

Post Office Box 19276

Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276

(217)

782-5544

)

TIllS

FILING

IS

SUBMITTED ON RECYCLED

PAPER

---

c’r

~r~v’ç ~

M/~R

6

2002

BEFORE THE

ILLINOIS POLLUTION

CONTROL BOARD

p

STATE

OF

ILLiNOIS

ollutjo,,

Control Roar,j

INTHEMATTEROF:

)

)

R02-19

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO

)

(Rulemaking-Water)

AMMONIA NITROGEN STANDARDS

)

35

ILL. ADM. CODE 302.212, 302.213,

)

AND 304.122

)

PREFILED TESTIMONY OF ROBERT MOSHER

QUALIFICATIONS AND INTRODUCTION

My name is

Robert Mosher and

I am currently the Manager of the Water Quality

Standards Section in the Division ofWater Pollution Control at the

Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency (“Illinois EPA”).

I

have been with the

Illinois EPA in excess of 16

years.

Almost all of that time has been spent in my current capacity where

my primary

responsibility is the development and implementation of water quality standards.

I have

a Masters Degree

in

Zoology from

Eastern Illinois

University where

I specialized

in

stream ecology.

My testimony will cover four topics.

First,

I will provide some background

information concerning the instant proposal before the Illinois Pollution Control Board

(“Board”) and the

Illinois EPA’s involvement in

the development of that proposal.

Second,

I will provide a testimony on the

Illinois EPA’s opinion

regarding the general

concepts

contained in the

Illinois Association of Wastewater Agency’s (“IAWA”)

proposal.

Third,

I will

provide some specific comments on recommended

changes or

corrections to IAWA’s proposal.

Finally,

I will address the

Illinois EPA’s intentions for

implementing this proposal if it is adopted by the Board.

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BACKGROUND

As part of my duties as Manager of the Water Quality Standards Section,

I

served on the committee led by the

United States Environmental

Protection Agency

(U.S. EPA) in the development of its new ammonia criteria which was finalized

in

1999.1

Along with other Illinois

EPA staff members,

I was

also consulted by IAWA during the

course of development of these regulations.

Face-to-face meetings and telephone

conferences were

held with

IAWA and Illinois EPA offered

comments on several

occasions to drafts of these proposed rules.

Those comments have largely been

incorporated into the proposal you see before you today.

The Illinois

EPA also

forwarded IAWA’s proposal to U.S. EPA Region V for its

review prior to submittal to the

Board.

Our review of the final version submitted to the Board on January

17,

2002,

finds that it substantially follows the

1999 National Criteria Document (NCD).

The

Illinois EPA

believes that the NCD and this proposal represent the state-of-the art in

ammonia water quality standards.

In

addition to discussing the proposal for amending the ammonia water quality

standard,

Illinois EPA also held some discussions with

IAWA about the types of

changes that would be necessary to make to the

Illinois

EPA’s implementation rules

(found in

35

III. Adm. Code

Part 355) if the

Board’s ammonia nitrogen regulations are

amended as provided

in

IAWA’s proposal.

A rough draft was provided to IAWA of how

we felt Part 355 would have to be amended

if the Board were to adopt the draft of

IAWA’s

proposal that was under discussion at that time.

Some changes have been

made to IAWA’s proposal since this draft was made and those changes as well as any

See,

1999 Update ofAmbient Water Quality Criteria for Ammonia (referred to

hereinafter as 1999 National Criteria Document).

2

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other changes the

Board makes

to IAWA’s proposal would have to be taken into

account in developing final amendments to the

Illinois

EPA’s existing Part 355.

IAWA’S PROPOSAL

A vital component of U.S.

EPA’s

new NCD for ammonia

is the protection of early

life

stages

of

aquatic

life.

In

order

to

do

so,

stricter

water

quality

standards

are

recommended when those life stages are present.

The IAWA proposal also recognizes

the

importance

of

this

goal

by

setting

the

summer

season

conservatively

(March

through October)

in

order to protect the vast majority of Illinois species.

Where species

exist that would

have

early

life stages present during

the November through

February

period, the new regulations would allow the

Illinois EPA to apply protective standards at

other times.

Based on

IAWA’s incorporation of

Illinois

EPA

comments and adherence to the

federal

criteria

in development of its proposal,

the

Illinois

EPA is generally

in support of

this rulemaking.

The Illinois

EPA

has several

minor issues it would

like to point out for

the

Record and for

the

Board’s information

in consideration of this

proposal which are

outlined below.

Statement of Reasons

The

Illinois

EPA

would

like

to

clarify

several

aspects

of

IAWA’s

Statement

of

Reasons

in support of this rulemaking

proposal that might otherwise

lead to confusion

on

the

part

of the

Board

or the

public.

First,

on

page

one

of

IAWA’s

Statement

of

Reasons,

IAWA explains the

provisions

contained

in

the

current and

proposed

35

III.

Adm. Code 302.212.

IAWA’s statement that the existing Section 302.212 “also contains

standards

for

un-ionized

ammonia,

with

calculations to

determine

acute

and

chronic

3

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standards”

is

somewhat

confusing.

Statement

of

Reasons

at

1.

That

section

does

contain

standards

for

acute

and

chronic

un-ionized

ammonia

nitrogen;

however,

the

calculations are used to convert the un-ionized ammonia to total ammonia nitrogen.

In

discussing

the

background

information

which

led

to

the

Board’s

current

ammonia nitrogen water quality standards,

IAWA’s Statement of Reasons,

IAWA states

that

“The

rulemaking

R94-1(B),

promulgating

the

existing

ammonia

water

quality

standards

was

based

on

U.S.

EPA’s

then current

NCD for

ammonia,

‘Ambient Water

Quality

Criteria

for

Ammonia’

issued

in

1984.”

Statement

of

Reasons

at

3.

This

statement

is not entirely accurate.

Although the

Illinois

EPA reviewed the

NCD and the

data

set

involved

in

order

to

develop

the

standard

amended

in

December

1996,

we

relied on

an approach that differed significantly from that in

the

1984 NCD.

We did not

propose the

use of a formula as did the

NCD, but rather had simple winter and summer

numeric values as

the standards.

We

also

added

new toxicity studies to the

existing

database.

The Illinois

EPA would also like to clarify another statement made by IAWA in

the

Statement of Reasons

in which they state “To IAWA’s knowledge,

no party has obtained

relief using

the

EMW Effluent

Modified Waters

provision.”

Statement of Reasons at 4.

The Illinois

EPA applied the

EMW provision

in

the Board’s rules to a number of facilities

between

the

time

of the

adoption

of

the

standard

and

the

development

of Agency

implementation

rules

in

Part

355.

Since

the

adoption

of

the

Agency

rules,

and

implementation of the

application

process to

receive an

EMW,

no facility has

received

an

EMW designation.

4

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Regulatory Proposal

IAWA’s regulatory proposal proposes changes to three sections ofthe

Board’s

regulations:

35

III. Adm.

Code 302.212, 302.213, and 304.122.

The Board correctly

has altered the caption on IAWA’s proposal to reflect the specific sections IAWA

proposes to amend.

The Illinois

EPA would also like to suggest some other minor

changes or corrections to the language of IAWA’s regulatory proposal.

In Section 302.212(b),

IAWA has stricken the parenthetical “(as N:

STORET

Number

00612).”

For clarification

and to retain consistency with the

rest ofthe Section,

Illinois EPA recommends that this phrase be retained; however, the STORET number

should

be changed from 00612 to 00610 (the proper STORET number for total

ammonia).

In Section 302.212(b), the word “Exceedance” should

be changed to “Attainment”

to conform to the wording of subsection

302.212(c).

Section 302.21 2(b) should also be clarified to indicate that all equations

in this

Section result in a standard expressed as a concentration of mg/L.

This can be done by

inserting the phrase “in mg/L” at the end of the first sentence of this subsection.

Section 302.212(c)(1) should

be changed to read “The acute standard of total

ammonia nitrogen (in mg/L) shall” to conform to the wording of the

rest ofthe

subsection.

In Sections 302.212(c)(2) and (3), the

Illinois

EPA recommends that the

Board

consider changing the word “determined” to “evaluated.”

The basis for this

recommendation is to indicate that Subsection (d)

is used to evaluate attainment ofthe

standards whereas subsection

(b) determines the value of the standards.

5

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In Section 302.212(d), the phrase “at any particular time” should

be replaced with

“measured at the time of each ammonia sample.”

This change is necessary to clarify

that ammonia,

pH and temperature measurements must be taken simultaneously in

order to determine attainment of the water quality standard.

Upon further review of IAWA’s proposal, Illinois EPA felt that the second

sentence of Section 302.212(e) was confusing.

This sentence should

be rewritten to

read:

“During any period of the winter season that early life stages are present, and

where the Winter water quality standard does

not provide adequate protection

for these

organisms, the water body

shalt meet the Summer water quality standard.”

The Illinois

EPA believes this clarifies the intent of this provision without changing the meaning of

IAWA’s proposal.

In a

Board Note at the conclusion of Section 302.212 and in

Section

302.Appendix C,

IAWA indicates that its proposal contains a chart (as is contained

in

the Board’s existing regulations) for the total ammonia water quality standards for

various temperatures and pH combinations.

No such chart or table has been included

in

IAWA’s rulemaking proposal.

Part 355

As an attachment to its

regulatory proposal,

IAWA has included draft

amendments to Part 355 of the Agency’s regulations for informational purposes.

With

regards to this draft, IAWA states that “Based

on discussions with

the

Illinois EPA,

it is

IAWA’s understanding that Illinois

EPA will proceed with rulemaking for these draft

rules.”

Statement of Reasons at 2.

It is the Illinois

EPA’s position that Part 355 is not

a

subject of this proceeding and until the Board adopts a change to the current ammonia

6

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rules, the

Illinois

EPA can only speculate on what changes may or may not be

necessary to

its current rules to implement such a change.

Clearly,

ifthe

Board

eliminates the Effluent Modified Waters concept from

its current rules, the

Illinois EPA

rules on that subject will

become obsolete.

It is the Illinois

EPA’s intention to modify its

implementation rules for ammonia nitrogen contained

in Part 355 to conform with

whatever rules the Board adopts

in this proceeding.

Until the Board completes this

process, the

Illinois EPA is unwilling to commit to adoption of any specific set of rules.

Although we have pointed out several areas for clarification or minor changes to

IAWA’s proposal and supporting documentation, the

Illinois EPA is

in

agreement with

this rulemaking proposal and finds it to be consistent with the federal ammonia criteria.

This concludes my pre-filed testimony.

I will be happy to address any questions during

the hearing regarding these comments and other issues involving the

Illinois EPA’s role

in administering ammonia standards.

By:___________

Robert Mosher

March

1, 2002

Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency

1021

North Grand Avenue East

P.O.

Box 19276

Springfield,

Illinois 62794-9276

7

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)

STATE

COUNTY OF SANGAMON

)

)

)

)

SS

PROOF OF SERVICE

I, the undersigned, on oath state that I have served the attached PREFILED TESTiMONY

OF

ROBERT

MOSHER upon the person to whom it is directed, by placing a copy in an envelope addressed

to:

Please see attached service list.

andmailing it from Springfield, Illinois

on

March 1,

2002 with sufficient postage affixed as indicated

above.

I /

II

A/I

A1

SUBSCRIBED AND

SWORN

TO

this l’~

day of March 2002

(~ary

Public

OFF!C~ALSEAL

-

CYNTHIA

L

WOLFE

$

NOTARY

PUBUC~ STATE

OF

ILLINOIS

f

MY

COMMISSK)N

EXPIRES

3-30-2003

+

THIS

FILING

IS

SUBMITTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

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SERVICE LIST

R02-19

March

1, 2002

Dorothy Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

100 West Randolph, Suite 11-500

Chicago, Illinois

60601

CatherineGlenn

Illinois Pollution Control Board

100 West Randolph,

Suite 11-500

Chicago, Illinois

60601

Mike Callahan

Bloomington Normal

Water Reclamation District

Post Office Box 3307

Bloomington, Illinois

61702-3307

Larry Cox

Downer’s Grove Sanitary District

2710

Curtiss Street

Downer’s Grove, Illinois

60515

Dennis Daffield

Departmentof Public Works City ofJoliet

921 East Washington Street

Joliet, Illinois

60433

Sheila Deely

Gamder, Carton and Douglas

321 North Clark Street, Suite 3400

Chicago,

illinois

60610-4795

Albert Ettinger

Environmental Law and Policy Center

35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1300

Chicago, Illinois

60601-2110

Susan M. Franzetti

Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal

8000 Sears Tower

233

SouthWacker Drive

Chicago, illinois

60606

Lisa Frede

Chemical Industry Council

9801

West Higgins Road, Suite

515

Rosemont, illinois

60018

James T. Harrington

Ross and Hardies

150 North Michigan, Suite 2500

Chicago, illinois

60601

Katherine Hodge

Hodge, Dwyer Zeman

3150 Roland Avenue

Post Office Box 5776

Springfield, Illinois

62705-5776

Margaret Howard

Hedingerand Howard

1225 South Sixth Street

Springfield, Illinois

62703

Robert Messina

illinois Environmental Regulatory Group

215 EastAdams Street

Springfield, Illinois

62701

TomMulh

Fox MetroWalter Reclamation District

682 State Route 31

Oswego, Illinois

60543

Irwin Polls

Metropolitan WaterReclamation

District of Chicago

Environmental Monitoring Division

6001 West Pershing Road

Cicero, illinois

60804-4112

David Zenz

CTE Engineers

303 East Wacker Drive, Suite 600

Chicago, Illinois

60601

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RECYCLED PAPER