ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

June

9,

1971

In

the

Matter

of:

#

R

70—12

DES

PLAINES

WATER

QUALITY

STANDARDS

Ooinion

of

the

Board

(by

Mr.

Kissel):

In response to petitions from

the

Villages

of Riverside and Franklin

Park

and from several hundred citizens,

the Illinois Pollution Control

Board

scheduled h~arings on the question

of

raising water quality standards

for

the

Des

Plaines

River

The

Board

held

three

days

of

hearings,

in

Riverside,

Franklin

Park,

and

Gurnee,

The

concern

of

the

residents

of

Riverside,

Franklin Park,

and

other

nearby

municipalities

over

the

state

of

the

Des

Plaines

was

prompted

by

the

then

proposed

plan

of

the North

Shore

Sanitary

District

to

discharge

secondary-treated

waste

from

the

‘Clavev

Road

sewage

treatment

plants

into

the

Des

Plaines,

The

Petitioners

asked

that

the

Board

amend

SWB-~ll to

provide

that

all

effluents being

discharged

into

the

Des Plaines

River

tertiary

or

other

advanced

waste

treatment

be

provided.

They

sought

to

have

Rule

1. 08

of

paragraph

116

of

thE

amended

to

include

a definition of advanced waste treatment

as

follows:

Tvoe

POD

or

ODI

Effluent

Effluent

Tpe

Stream

Dilution

nrcatment

Reduction

SOD,

ODI

Suspended

Solids

Facilities

Requirements

~dvance

98

4

5

Series

Units

Less

than

1

to

1

Des

Plaines

River

The

Des

flames

River

has

its

headwaters

in

Racine

and

Kenosha

counties,

Wisconsin,

It

then

runs

the

entire length of

Lake

County

and

continues

in

Cook

County,

west

of

Chicago

about

15

miles

west

of

Lake

Michican,

roughiLv

paralleling

the

Lake

Michigan

lakeshore.

The

river

traverses

both

Franklin

Park

and

Riverside.

TOe

total

drainaqe

area

in

Illinois

above

Summit

is

520

square

miles.

~ccorP~’~

a

t

e

Lll1flOi~

San~tar~’

Wath~ E~a’~Pu

e

~o

Pequla

Lin

SWB-ll

•

the

Des

:olaii~es Erver

is

to

be

used

for

the

carriage

of

munocroaf

and

industrial

treated

eftluents,

tar

f~shinq,

boatinu

and,

recreation

inctudinu

full

body

contact,

and

for

industrial

water

supply,

the

basic

contention

of

the

petitioners

is

that

the

Des

Plaines

River

is

already

in

extremely

poor

condition

and

tlaat,

therefore,

it

should

not

be

further

Deraraded

hr

the

addition

of

poorly

treated

sewage.

(R.

11)

The

residents

have

found

that

the

load

the

River

must

carry

has

become

excessive,

with

the

result

that

the

rrver

bank

and

bed

are

clogged

with

sediment

and

decaying,

odor-producing

substances,

Residents

and

civic

groups

alike

described

in

vivid

detail

the

changes

in

the

Des

Flames

over

the

years

and

the

:Loss

in

recreational

value

which

its

degradation

has

brought.

1

72E

---

At the

time

of the hearings,

the North Shore Sanitary District

was planning

two plants with discharges to the Des Plaines

—-

one

at

Gurnee,

the other at Clavey Road,

The Gurnee plant is to provide

advanced waste treatment and discharge at

4 mg/i of biochemical

oxygen demand

(BOD5)

and

5 mg/i

of suspended solids;

the Clavey Road

plant,

10 mg/i

of BOD,

15

of suspended solids,

Due to dilution from

the

Gurnee discharge, Clavey would need only supply supplemental

treatment

to its secondary effluent

to meet state standards.

In the opinion and

order in the League of Women Voters

et al,

v, North Shore Sanitary

District,

however,

the Board directed the District

to discharge to the

Skokie ditch rather than

the

Des

Plaines River:

“We hereby require, therefore, that

the

District

provide

third

stage treatment at the Ciavey site

(this means that degree

of

treatment

so as to meet an effluent BOD standard of

4 and

a

suspended solids standard of

5)

and discharge the effluent into

the Skokie ditch,~

The difference in cost is minimal.

It is

estimated by the District~s engineers that it would cost

$6 million

to build tertiary facilities

at Clavey Road,

Since

the District

estimates that it will cost

$4 million to build the pipe

to the

Des Plaines,

the diffe’rence

is

$2 million

to provide good water

to the Skokie ditch.”

Further, testimony by Carl Blomgren of the Agency established that even

though SWB—ll does

not contain an advance waste treatment standard,

tho

Agency

is insisting upon

4 mg/i of BOD5

and

5 mg/i of suspended

solids

when dilution is less ‘than

1

to

1.

The proposed Water Quality Standards,

R 71—14, would make such

a standard anolicable state~wide.

Decision

on the imposition of this standard

will

have to await the completion

of hearings

in R 71-14.

Testimony by

the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency established

that the waters of the Des Flames

are relatively

free of pollutants

as

they leave Lake County:

“At Lake County Road,

the samples were essentially in compliance

with SWB—ll for all parameters, during

1969 and

1970, with the

exception of one fecal coliform count and one sample

analyzed

for iron.”

(R.

316)

To the Cook County section ~of the river, however,

the Metropolitan

Sanitary District discharges raw sewage from 42 combined sewer overflows,

and municipal sewer systems discharge raw wastes at 50 points.

These

discharges completely bypass treatment facilities when the sewer systems

are overloaded and go untreated

into the Des Plaines.

The combined sewer

overflows in Cook County result in the Agency’s evaluation

of this

stream sector as

a “deteriorated pollution tolerant environment.”

(P.

340)

The degradation of the Des Flames

therefore occurs as

the river passes

through Cook County.

I

*

726

---

Due

to

the

grave

complexities

of

the

combined

sewer

overflow

problem

from

the

Metropolitan

Sanitary

District,

the

problem

quite

obviously

cannot be resolved within the confines of the present hearing, R 70-12.

In

the

proposed

Water

Quality

Standards

for the State of Illinois,

R7l-14,

however,

Section

602

would

reauire

treatment

of

overflows

by

screening

and

disinfection

by

December

31,

1972,

and

full

treatment

of

MSD’s

overflows by

December

31,

1976.

The

1976

deadline

conStitutes

a

one-year

advancement in

the

date

for

complete

compliance.

Resolution

of

the

question

of

treatment

of

combined

sewer

overflows,

therfore,

must

await

the

completion

of

hearings

on

the

newly-proposed

regulation.

The

Board

remains

hopeful

that

technical

and

economic

feasibility

of

such

treatment will

be

established

and

that

the

resultant

improvement

in

the

water

quality

of

the

Des

Plaines

can

be

brought

about

with

ORDER

The

hearing

record

in

the

Des

Plaines

River

Water

Quality

Standards

shall

be

incorporated

into

the

Record

of

the

hearing

on

Water

Quality

Standards,

R

71—14.

I,

Regina

E.

Ryan,

Clerk of the Board,~4e;ebycertiff)that the above

Opinion and Order was entered on the

1(1

day.

of

~~e~--~’

1971.

1—727