ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March 14,

1991

VILLAGE OF BLUFFS,

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 91—45

(Provisional Variance)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by J.C Marlin):

This matter comes before the Board on receipt of an Agency

Recommendation dated March 12,

1991.

The recommendation refers

to a request from Petitioner, Village of Bluffs for a provisional

variance from the biochemical oxygen demand

(CBOD5) and suspended

solids

(TSS)

effluent requirements, as set forth in 35

Ill.

Adm.

Code 304.120(a)

and 304.141,

for the period from when the

Petitioner begins repairs to

its wastewater treatment plant, by

beginning dewatering of its lagoons, and continuing until the

Petitioner returns that unit to service, but not for longer than

45 days.

The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested

provisional variance with specified conditions.

The Agency

agrees that the repairs are necessary.

The Agency anticipates

that the requested provisional variance would have minimal

environmental impact on the receiving stream.

The Agency is

unaware of any public water supplies that the requested

provisional variance would adversely impact.

The Agency

maintains that a grant of

a provisional variance would violate no

federal

laws.

The Agency finds that a denial of the requested

provisional variance would create an arbitrary and unreasonable

hardship on the Petitioner.

The responsibilities of the Agency and the Board in these

short—term provisional variances are different from the

responsibilities

in standard variances.

~

Ill.

Rev.

Stat.

1989,

ch.

111½,

pars.

1035(b)

&

(C).

In provisional variances it

is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical

determinations and finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship.

The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal Order,

to assure

the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the

enforceability of the variance,

and to provide notification of

the action by a press release.

Having received the Agency recommendation finding that a

denial of the requested relief would impose an arbitrary and

unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants Petitioner a

provisional variance from 35

Ill. Adm. Code 304.121(a)

and

120—89

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2

304.141 on the following conditions:

1.

The term of this provisional variance shall commence on

when the Petitioner, Village of Bluff,

initiates dewatering

its lagooons, and it shall expire on the date the Petitioner

returns its repair work is completed on the air supply lines

or after 45 days have elapsed, whichever comes first;

2.

During the term of this provisional variance, the

effluent from the Petitioner’s treatment plant shall not

exceed concentrations of 50 mg/l BOD5,

or 75 mg/i TSS,

both

maximum concentration basis;

3.

The Petitioner shall sample its effluent weekly fo the

parameters mentioned it its NPDES permit and report the

results on its DMR;

4.

The Petitioner shall notify Bud Bridgewater of the

Agency’s Springfield Regional office by telephone,

at 217-

786-6892, when it begins dewatering its lagoons and when it

begins refilling its lagoons, and the Petitioner shall

confirm this notice

in writing within five days,

addressed

as follows:

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Division of Water Pollution Control

Compliance Assurance Section

2200 Churchill Road

P.O.

Box 19276

Springfield,

Illinois

62794—9276

Attention:

Mark T. Books

5.

The Petitioner shall operate its plant during the term

of this provisional variance in a manner that assures the

best treatment practicable; and

6.

The Petitioner shall execute

a copy of a Certificate of

Acceptance of this provisional variance and forward that

copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice

required

in the above condition;

the Petitioner shall

forward that copy within 10 days of the date of this Order

of the Board,

and the Certificate of Acceptance shall take

the following form:

120—90

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3

CERTIFICATION

I

(We)

_____________________

hereby accept and agree to be bound by all terms

and conditions of the Order of the Pollution

Control Board

in PCB 91—45, March

14, 1991.

Petitioner

Authorized Agent

Title

Date

IT IS SO ORDERED.

B.

Forcade concurred.

I, Dorothy N.

Gunn,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board,

do hereby certify~thatthe above Order was adopted on the

/1/-a

day of ___________________________,

1991,

by a vote of

7-0

Dorothy M41Gunn,

Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

120—91