ILLINOLS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

May 26,

1971

In the Matter of

Revision of Public Water

Supply and Food Processing)

#R71-11

Water Supply

Use

Standard

Opinion of the Board

(by

Mr.

Dumelle)

On March

17,

1971 the

Board

authorized for hearings

a proposal

to

amend

the water quality standards for public water supply and

food processing water supply use.

The amendment, requested by

the

Federal

Environmental Protection Agency,

is

as follows:

Amend SWB-7

as fo11ows~

Waters designated for public and food processing water supply

use shall be of such quality

that with

treatment consisting of

coagulation, sedimentation, filtration,

storage and chlorination,

or other equivalent treatment processes,

the treated water shall

meet in all respects both the mandatory and recommended

requirements of the Public Health Service Drinking Standards

1962 for finished w~ater.

Hearings were held on the proposal in Chicago and Danville on

May

18, 1971

and May

19,

1971 respective1y~

Witness Phillip Reed of the Chicago Water Bureau endorsed the

proposal and characterized it as an “insurance policy”

to be used to~

gether with specific numeric criteria

(R,

18)

Mr~Donald Maddox of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency

called

the amendment an improvement over existing Illinois standards

because, with the exception of SWB~7,the present rules do not state

the degree of water treatment which must be provided (R~ 21)

As

is

•the case with waste treatment, water treatment can purify almost any

source if cost

is

not an object~

The purpose of

this revision is to

ensure that those who treat water for domestic or

food processing

purposes shall not have to use extraordinary techniques

to reclaim

polluted water.

Mr.

Leo

Michl,

Jr.

of the Macon County Health Department raised

the question whether Decatur would be in violation of this proposed

standard

if its water supply were high in nitrates

as has happened

in the past

(R.

73~83)

This standard, now enacted,

is an “umbrella”

type regulation

to protect users

of waters designated for water supply

or food processing from dischargers who might make difficult the use

of the listed water treatment processes~

Put another way, unless

Decatur itself were discharging nitrates

into

its water supply,

the

legal action,

if

any, would be directed against identifiable sources

of nitrates and not against Decatur~

1

-~

647

---

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency endorsed the revision

and found it “consistent with the intent of existing water quality

standards and effluent criteria that stream water be of such quality

so as to be available for all its designated water uses”

(Blomgren,

R,

59),

Mr. Blomgren suggested substituting the phrase “following

conventional treatments” for the listing of specific processes contained

in the

original proposal.

However, he admits this would leave the

interpretation of the word “conventional” up to the Agency

(R.

64-5).

We feel that to leave the term “conventional” undefined might

result in processes which are presently used only because of

pollution problems, such as the use of activated carbon to counter

taste and odor problems, being designated as conventional.

The

language of the original proposal

is

more specific and should be

used.

The

Illinois EPA also recommended substituting the phrase

“Current Drinking

Water

Standards”

for the

specific 1962 reference

(R.62).

We

wIll not

do that

because the Board cannot

delegate

its responsibilities

for setting

standards

to another

agency.

If

the Federal Environmental Protection

Agency

adopts

new

Drinking

Water Standards

it will be

a simple matter

to reconsider

and

update

this standard at that time.

Accordingly, we have adopted the public and food processing

water supply revision as originally proposed

on March

17,

1971.

I, Regina H,

Ryan, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Contro~oard,

hereby certify that the

above

Opinion was entered on the

day

of May,

1971.

—

648