ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    March.6, 1980
    PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
    )‘
    Complainant,
    v.
    )
    PCB 77—232
    LAKE
    IN
    THE
    HILLS SANITARY DISTRICT,
    Respondent.
    i~1R,
    DOUGLAS
    P.
    KARP, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON
    BEHALF
    OF
    THE
    COMPLAINANT.
    COWLIN, COWLIN AND UNGVARSKY, ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW
    (MR.
    RICHARD
    J.
    CURRAN, JR.,
    OF COUNSEL), APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT,
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Werner):
    This matter comes before the Board on the September 13, 1977
    Complaint brought by the People of the State of Illinois
    (“People”).
    On October
    4,
    1977,
    the People filed a Motion for Leave to File an
    Amended Complaint and an Amended Complaint
    (which merely corrected
    a typographical error
    in the original Complaint).
    The Amended
    Complaint alleged
    that:
    (1)
    a power failure at two of the
    Respondent’s
    lift stations caused raw sewage to be discharged
    from
    sewer manholes and flow into a lake during the weeks
    of
    July
    4,
    1977,
    July
    18,
    1977,
    and July
    31,
    1977,
    and
    (2) the Respondent
    failed to procure or utilize auxiliary emergency power sources
    during the periods of power
    failure and failed to take reasonable
    measures
    to
    prevent the discharge
    of raw sewage into a lake causing
    water pollution in violation of Rule 601(a) and Rule 601(b) of
    Chapter
    3:
    Water Pollution Control Regulations
    (“Chapter
    3”)
    and
    Section 12(a)
    of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act
    (“Acttt).
    On November 29,
    1979, the Board entered an Order mandating that a
    hearing he held within
    60 days.
    A hearing was held on January
    17,
    1980.
    The parties
    filed a Stipulation and Proposal
    for Settlement
    on January
    22,
    1980.
    The Lake in the Hills Sanitary District
    (“Sanitary
    District’t)
    owns and operates a sanitary sewage treatment plant
    (“plant”) in
    the
    Village of Lake
    in the Hills, McHenry County,
    Illinois.
    The
    Sanitary District discharges effluent from its sewage treatment
    facilities
    to the Fox River pursuant to NPDES Permit No,
    IL 0021733,
    Its plant includes wastewater treatment facilities and a sanitary
    collection system.
    The sanitary collection system consists of
    5
    lift
    stations
    and
    various
    sewer
    manholes,
    Two
    of
    the
    lift
    stations
    37—44
    5
    —2—
    are situated about
    20 feet from a small recreational
    lake
    (“lake”)
    which is
    used primarily during the summer months for swimming by
    the members of
    a local property owners’
    association,
    The parties have stipulated that,
    as a result of a power
    failure
    at Commonwealth Edison Company’s
    facilities which lasted
    about
    3 hours, on July
    5,
    1977 a power failure at the Hilltop
    sewage lift station caused raw sewage
    to be discharged from
    a
    sewer manhole into the lake.
    (Stip.
    3).
    During this power
    failure,
    the Respondent
    did not possess or utilize auxiliary power
    sources
    to prevent or minimize the discharge
    of untreated sewage
    into the lake.
    (Stip.
    3).
    Additionally,
    on July 31,
    1977,
    raw sewage overflowed at a
    manhole and allowed
    a discharge to flow overland into the lake.
    This overflow was caused by blockage
    in the
    sewer line which
    developed from alleged vandalism.
    (Stip.
    3).
    The Complainant
    believes that the Sanitary District’s failure to frequently clean
    the sewer pipe lines and manholes increased the likelihood of
    sewer
    line blockage and raw sewage overflow into the lake.
    The proposed settlement agreement provides for a compliance
    program to prevent the recurrence
    of environmental problems.
    The
    detailed cOmpliance plan mandates* that the Respondent install:
    (1) two portable engine generators for emergency purposes to
    provide auxiliary power to the off-site
    lift stations
    in the event
    of a power failure
    (to eliminate sewer backups and overflows due
    to power failures);
    (2)
    a stationary engine generator which will
    provide stand-by auxiliary power for the sewage treatment plant;
    (3)
    two variable speed pumps
    to the existing main sewage lift
    station at the plant
    (to provide sufficient capacity to handle the
    peak sewage
    flows and to
    reduce the incidents of sanitary collection
    system surcharge),
    and
    (4)
    a telemetering system which,
    in conjunc-
    tion with the alarm status sensors at the
    lift stations, will
    monitor equipment malfunctions, power line failures, high wetwell
    level
    and drywell conditions,
    and detect intruders and vandals.
    The compliance plan also sets a schedule for periodic maintenance
    and cleaning of the sewer collection system and includes
    a program
    for locating unauthorized sanitary sewer connections.
    (Stip.
    5—7;
    R.
    5—6).
    The parties have indicated that a stipulated penalty of
    $500.00 is appropriate.
    In evaluating the enforcement action and the proposed settle-
    ment agreement,
    the Board has taken into consideration all the
    *The ambiguous wording of paragraph 23 of the Stipulation seems
    to mandate
    a reporting duty existing into perpetuity.
    The Board
    interprets this paragraph to imply that notification on progress
    of
    each of the required steps should proceed until
    all necessary work
    is completed,
    37—446
    —3-.
    facts
    and circumstances
    in
    light of the specific criteria
    delineated in Section 33(c) of the Illinois Environmental
    Protection
    Act.
    The Board
    finds the stipulated agreement acceptable under
    Procedural Rule 331 and Section 33(c)
    of the Act,
    The
    Board
    finds
    that the Respondent has
    violated Rules 601(a) and 601(b) of
    Chapter
    3:
    Water Pollution Control Regulations and Section 12(a)
    of the Act,
    The stipulated penalty
    of $500.00 is assessed against
    the
    Respondent, Lake in the Hills Sanitary District.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
    conclusions o~flaw in this
    matter.
    ORDER
    It
    is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board
    that:
    1.
    Respondent,
    Lake
    in
    the Hills Sanitary District,
    has
    violated Rules
    601(a) and 601(b) of Chapter
    3:
    Water Pollution
    Control Regulations
    and Section 12(a)
    of the Act,
    2.
    Within 45 days of the date of this Order,
    the Respondent
    shall, by certified check or money order payable to the State of
    Illinois,
    pay the stipulated penalty of $50Q.00 which
    is to be
    sent to:
    Mr. Thomas Pagati
    Chief
    Fiscal
    Officer
    Attorney General’s Office
    500
    S.
    Second
    Street
    Springfield, Illinois
    62706
    3.
    The Respondent shall comply with all the
    terms
    and
    conditions
    of the Stipulation and
    Proposal for Settlement filed
    January
    22, 1980,
    which
    is incorporated by reference as
    if fully
    set forth herein.
    Mrs. Anderson abstains.
    I, Christan
    L.
    Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, hereby certify that t e above Opinion and Order were adopted
    on the
    ~
    day of
    ________________,
    1980 by a vote of
    d/-~
    Christan
    L,
    Mo:
    Illinois
    Polluti
    37—447

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