ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
February
17,
1971
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
v.
)
#PCB
70-8
VILLAGE OF GLENDALE HEIGHTS
Opinion of the Board
(by Mr.
Kissel):
The Environmental Protection Agency filed its complaint against
the Village of Glendale Heights
on September
16,
1970,
alleging that
the Village sewage treatment plant was polluting the East branch of
the DuPage River by the discharge
of raw sewage,
The complaint
charged violations
of the Sanitary Water Board Act, Section
12
of
the Environmental Protection Act,
and Regulation SWB-14 of the
Illinois Sanitary Water Board and asked for the entry of
a cease and
desist order, and
a $10,000
fine plus
$1000
for each
day such violation
shall be shown
to have continued,
On the date of the hearing,
the
Agency moved
to amend its complaint by dropping its request for
penalties.
This amendment,
the Agency noted, was based on two
circumstances:
one,
the Village’s confession
of liability;
two,
the Agency’s belief
that the principal issue
in the
case concerned
the improvement of
the Village’s sewage treatment works,
The Agency directed its presentation in this case to the
nature, design,
and capacity of
the proposed addition to the sewage
treatment plant.
The Village had received
a permit to construct the
plant on February
27,
1970.
Carl
T.
Blomqren, environmental
control
engineer with
the Environmental Protection Agency,
described the
proposed addition as follows:
It
is proposed to be
a factory-built type of lift station,
three pumps.
Each one
.
.
.
has
a 2100—gallon—per—minute
capacity, which would give the lift station
a capacity of about
6,000,000 gallons with
the largest unit out of service,
in
accordance with
our rules.
The flow
is then pumped from the new lift station to
each of the three package-type sewage treatment plants in
parallel.
These plants all ooerate in parallel.
The flow would
be split.
Each
package planti
is
an individual sewage treatment
plant.
It is the activated sludge process with an anaerobic
digester
as part of the unit of each plant
.
.
.
The effluent
from the three plants then passes through the tertiary filters
to an effluent disinfection before discharge to the ditch
tributary to the East Branch of the DuPage River.
(R. A18)*
*The page references from the transcript from the Oct.
15 hearing will
be prefixed by an A;
those from the Dec.2 hearino,
by
a
B,
1 —217
The Agency permit issued for a plant
in Glendale Heights capable
of handling 3,000,000 gallons-mer-day with
a discharge
of 4,800 pounds
of BOD
(biochemical oxygen demand)
per day.
(R. A20)
In order
to
meet the water quality standards for the receiving stream of
4 mg/l
of BOD
and
5 mg/l of suspended solids,
the plant was designed to
achieve an effluent of 3,2 mg/l of BOD and
2 mg/l of suspended solids,
(R. A20—l)
Just released U.S.
census figures showed Glendale Heights
population in the vicinity of 18,000; based on population growth for
the reasonably foreseeable
future,
the Agency projected
a service
area of 24,000 people.
(R.
A2l)
At the rate
of
125 gallons per day
per person,
the Agency concluded that
a
3 mgd plant would be necessary.
Blomgren indicated that
a new plant is needed on the basis of
(I)
copulation growth,
and
(2)
a wet weather peak load which has reached
1.9 mgd.
(R.
A23)
The third unit, he pointed out,
is
also necessary
as
a reserve unit,
to be used when one of the other units is down for
cleaning purposes.
(R.
A24)
While
the Village officials recognized
a desnerate need for the
expanded sewage treatment facility,
its citizens
did not.
The voters
defeated
a referendum on May
23,
1970, which left the Village in the
position of having inadequate treatment of its wastes
today,
and for
sometime
in the future.
The Village sought
a directive
from this
Board which would have given the Village the right to issue bonds in
any amount permitted by
the Environmental Protection Act in order
to
construct the
new treatment facilities,
After
the original hearing,
the Board considered
the matter
and ordered the Hearing Officer
to reconvene the hearing
to consider
the followinq matters:
(I)
Whether the location of the proposed addition to the
sewage treatment plant entails use of
a flood plain;
and,
if
so,
if such location
is detrimental;
(2)
The storm water infiltration of the sewer system;
(3)
The basis
for the Agency’s dismissal
of
its request for
money penalties;
(4)
Whether further connections
to the sewer system should be
allowed in
the period between the entry of the Board’s order
and the completion of the proposed addition to the sewage
treatment plant;
(5)
How the orooosed Glendale Heights addition would conform
with
a regionalization of sewage treatment
facilities
in
DuPage County.
We will consider each of those matters:
1)
Money penalties
-
The Agency admitted that the money penalty
request was dropped in consideraiton
for the Village’s admission that
it was
in fact polluting
the waters of the State of Illinois in
violation of the Environmental Protection Act, Section
12(a),
We find
that the compromise
is
a valid one for this
case.
It would indeed
be shortsighted
to require an already hard-pressed village
to pay
a
money penalty
to the
State.
The money
is better used by
the Village
itself.
In addition,
the Village has demonstrated
its good faith in
submitti~ig to the voters bond issues for
the improvement of the waste
treatment plant not only once, but a second
time after
the first time it
had
failed.
This good faith, along with
the Village’s need
for money
and
its admission of
liability, is adequate basis for affirming the
Agency’s decision to drop from the complaint the request for money
penalties
to be assessed against the Village,
2)
Storm water infiltration
-
While
the letter of James Campion,
an interested citizen, expressed some concern that the treatment
facility would be overtaxed because of ‘~Leaky sewers”,
the concern
seems,
from the evidence,
to be overstated,
The Village adequately
demonstrated that by the use of television,
smoke testing and visual
inspection
it has the problem under control for the moment.
3)
Location of the proposed plant
in a flood plain
-
The inter-
ested citizen, James Campion,
testified that
the sewage treatment
plant lies below all of the construction within the Village.
(R.
B14)
Campion stated that the
1961 ditch flooding put the edges
of the
flooding at the doorstep to
the sewage treatment plant and that the
1954 flood reached 400
feet from the proposed plant site.
CR.
Bl6,
17)
Campion stressed
that additional development and resurfacing of land
upstream and downstream since
the flooding and
in the future enhance
the possibility of flooding on the oroposed exnansion site.
(R.
Bl7)
The Village’s testimony showed that,
though the proposed
location
is at
a low point
in the Village,
it
is not on
a flood
plain.
The geological map offered into evidence showed that those
areas which
the map outlines within
a shaded blue area are on a flood
plain;
the elevation of the new plant will be
as high
or higher than
the present flood plain.
CR.
B46)
Thus,
as stated,
the proposed site
is outside of the flooded areas shown on the exhibit.
Further, the
plant would be raised about
8 feet above, the present flood plain
indicated in the USGS map.
The elevation of the construction will
be 708
feet above sea level
and the flood plain
appears
to be just
under
700
feet.
CR,
B68)
4)
Regionalization
-
The Village has cooperated fully with other
local officials in seeking some manner of county—wide sewage treatment
plan.
In the feasibility studies that have been undertaken by
the
County and its engineering consulting firms, both
the 1962 and 1969
reports contemplate additional facilities
at the Glendale Heights
1
—~
219
treatment plant site--there
to serve
a larger area than that presently
served,
CR.
B55,
57)
In other words, both renorts indicate that
the county
is proposing
a regional facility be located adjacent to
the present Village facility.
CR.
B59)
The present county-wide plan
calls
for
a larger treatment plant
to be built at Glen Ellyn at some
future date, with
the Glendale Heiehts facility
then being phased out.
CR.
B61)
As the Village Engineer then explained,
the Glendale Heights
facility
is
to be used
as
an interim facility
in the approximate
10-
year period before the county-wide plan is fully imolemented.
CR.
B62)
The Agency,
in its corroborative testimony,
also stated that
it con-
sidered the regionalization of facilities
in DuPaqe County when it
originally approved the permit
for the Glendale Heights facility.
CR.
B80)
Thus,
the present facility
is compatible with any future
plan
for regionalization in DuPaqe County.
5)
Further connections
to the sewer system
-
Admittedly,
it will
be some
time before the expanded treatment plant of
the Village will
be in full operation,
Before that happens
the Village will not be
able
to handle
the wastes of
the citizens presently connected
to
the sewer system;
therefore,
it would follow that
the Village should
not be allowed to add any other connections
to this system until it
has adequately demonstrated
that it has
the capacity to handle such
wastes.
The Village was agreeable
to that kind of condition being
imnosed on it, but the Village seemed to make
some kind of distinction
between the new vs.
old.
lines,
This Board will require that the
Village disallow
any additional connections
to
its sewer system and
this Board will not,
at this
time, make any distinctions of the kind
made in the record,
Subsequent
to the hearinq,
the electorate of
the Village approved
a bond
issue
for the sewage treatment plant exoansion,
That decision
by the voters,
although
a welcome one,
does not make this case moot.
As the Village attorney has
stated,
the Village may need more
funds
because of the increasing costs of construction.
There
is no question
in this case about pollution,
The Villace admits that it
is polluting
the waters of this state.
This Board must do everything within
its
power to abate
that pollution and in this case
it means that we must
invoke Section
46
of the Environmental Protection Act.
This section
gives
the Board the power,
inter alia,
to order
a municipality or
sanitary district to issue general obligation or revenue bonds
for
the purpose of raisinq money to abate
the pollution.
There need be
no election or referendum for the issuance of the aforementioned bonds,
We believe that the instant case
is
an appropriate one
for the invoca-
tion of Section 46.
Although no amount need be soecified in the order
at this
time,
the Board expects that
a sufficient amount of bonds will
be issued so that within the very near future the pollution will be
abated.
Specific attention
is directed
to
the provision of Section
46 which
allows
the bonds
to be issued
in such amounts
as “would not
raise the total outstanding bonded indebtedness of
such municipality
in excess
of the limit imposed unon such indebtedness by
the
Constitution of the State of Illinois
.
.
.
,“
Since the new
Constitution does
nct. Impose any limit on the bonded indebtedness
of municipalities o~. sanitary districts,
it may be that the Board can
require bonds
to be .L~suedup to any amount.
We need not decide that
I
—
220
question
here,
but
the
Village
should
be
guided
by
the
direction
that
the
Board
will
use
all
available
legal
means
to
end
pollution
of
the
waters
of
this
State.
The
following
order
is
hereby
entered:
(1)
The
Village
of
Glendale
Heights
is
hereby
ordered
to
cease
and
desist
from
pollutinq
the
waters
of
the
east
branch
of
the
DuPage
River
to
the
extent
reasonably
possible
until
the
construction
of
additional
facilities,
as
required
below;
(2)
The
Village
of
Glendale
Heights
is hereby ordered
to
construct such additions to itsoresent waste treatment facilities
as would bring the Village
in compliance with
all anolicable
laws,
rules
and regulations governing the operation and maintenance of
sewage
treatment
facilities;
(3)
The
Village
of
Glendale
Heights
is
ordered
under
Section
46
of
the
Environmental
Protection
Act to issue general obligation
or revenue bonds
in the amounts necessary
to comnlete
its prooosed
sewage
treatment
plant
expansion
pursuant
to
permit
No.
l970-AB-98
of the Environmental Protection Agency and to thereby abate its
pollution of the east branch of the DuPage River,
(4)
No additional sewer connections
to existino
lines shall
be
made or new sewer
lines
connected
until the pronosed addition
to the sewage treatment plant is comoleted and certified
as capable
of operating within the Rules
and Regulations
of the Illinois
Pollution Control Board.
This order anplies
to any sgwer connections
or
sewer
lines which will
feed
into the Glendale Heights
olant,
whether or not such connections
are within
the coroorate limits
of
the Village of Glendale Heights.
This moratorium is
effective
whether or not the Village of Glendale Heights chooses
to avail itself
of the funding procedures
of Section
46,
C5)
Within thirty days after the entry of
this order,
the Village
of Glendale Heights shall confer with
the Environmental Protection
Agency and adopt
a cormliance schedule
for the comoletion of the sewage
treatment facility.
The compliance schedule agreed unon by the parties
shall be submitted
to
the Board and,
if no objection
is made, shall
be incorporated
as part of the Board’s order.
Thereafter,
the Village
of Glendale Heights shall furnish the Agency quarterly orogress reports
as construction proceeds.
I, Regina
H.
Ryan, Clerk
of the Pollution Control Board,
certify that the Board adopted the above opinion and order
this
17th
day of
F brua~y
,
l97l~
.
.
..
Regina
E.
Fyhn
/
Clerk of the Board