ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January
5,
1989
SALT CREEK DRAINAGE BASIN SANITARY
DISTRICT S.T.P.,
Petitioner,
)
v.
)
PCB 89-1
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER
OF THE BOARD
(by J.D. Dumelle):
This matter comes before the
Board upon
a January
4,
1989,
Illinois
Environmental
Protection
Agency (Agency) Recommendation that the
Board grant
a
provisional
variance to the Salt Creek
Drainage Basin Sanitary District S.T.P.
(Petitioner).
Petitioner requests
a variance to allow time to do necessary
repairs, sand blasting, and painting on the sand filter.
While these
necessary repairs are
being made
it
will
not be able to chlorinate and
will
therefore violate
its NPDES
Fecal
Coliform Effluent Limits.
Petitioner owns and operates
a
5.0 MGD wastewater treatment facility
which consists of
a bar screen,
aerated grit removal, pre—aeration, primary
sedimentation, activated sludge, secondary clarification, rapid sand
filtration, and chlorination.
Primary and waste activated sludges are
anaerobically digested prior to
land application.
Effluent is discharged
to
Salt Creek which
is
a tributary of the Des
Plaines River.
Petitioner presently
is
required by its NPDES
permit
to meet effluent
Fecal
Coliform limitation
of 400 per 100 ml
for daily maximum.
By phone
call
between the Agency and
Fred Dale (Plant Manger)
on January
3,
1989,
Petitioner stated that
it currently chlorinates
in the clear well
which
is
located below the
rapid
sand filter.
Therefore, once the sand filter
is removed from service for the necessary
repairs
it will
no longer
be able to
chlorinate.
Petitioner has
stated
it
has no alternative to
remove this sand filter
from service
in order to do the necessary repair work.
Petitioner notified
the Agency on January
3, 1989,
by phone,
that some of the repainting work has
already begun
on the walls and the trusses of the sand filter building
in
order to keep the down time of the filters themselves
to bare minimum.
Petitioner has currently applied for
a
Seasonal Chlorination Exemption to
the Agency (received
December 12,
1988).
Although this does not
affect this
variance
request
per say,
it appears
that the Petitioner is
a
likely candidate
95—35
-2-
to
receive such an exemption during winter months once the Agency rules
in
35
Ill. Adm. Code 378 are adopted.
The Agency anticipates that
since secondary treatment will
be provided
that the environmental
impact
on Salt Creek caused by this repair work will be
minimal
There are
no public water supplies which would
be adversely affected by
granting this provisional variance.
The closest downstream water supply
is
Peoria Water
Co., approximately
200 miles downstream.
There are no federal
laws which would preclude the granting of this
variance.
The Agency’s opinion
is that denial
of this provisional
variance petition
would create
an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship upon the Petitioner.
The
Agency bases its opinion
on the fact that the repainting work
is necessary to
maintain structural
stability and the Petitioner has
no alternative
to
removing the sand filter from service to do the necessary work.
The Agency recommends, therefore, that the Salt Creek
Drainage Sanitary
Basin S.T.P.
be granted
a provisional
variance from
35
Ill
.
Adm. Code
302.209(b)
Fecal
Coliform subject
to certain conditions.
The
Board having received notification
from the Agency that compliance
on
a
short term basis with the Fecal
Coliform limitations imposed by 35
Ill. Adm.
Code 302.209 would impose
an arbitrary and unreasonable
hardship upon
Petitioner,
and the Board concurring
in that notification, the
Board
grants
its provisional
variance subject to the conditions suggested by the Agency.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and conclusions of
law in
this matter.
ORDER
The
Salt Creek Drainage
Basisn Sanitary District S.T.P.
(petitioner)
is
hereby granted provisional
variance from
35
Ill. Adm. Code 302.209 Fecal
Coliform subject
to the conditions set forth below:
1.
This variance
shall
commence upon initiation of bypassing of the sand
filter and continue for
a period of 30 days or
until
the filter is
returned to service whichever occurs first.
2.
Petitioner shall
notify Ted
Denning
at
he Agency’s Maywood Regional
Office via telephone
at 312,’345-9780 when bypassing of the filter
is
begun and when
it
is
returned to service.
Written confirmation of
each notification
shall
be
sent within
5 days to the following
address:
Illinois Environmental
Protection
Agency
The Intercontinental
Center
—
Suite 600
95—86
-3—
1701 First
Avenue
Maywood, Illinois
60153
ATTN:
Ted
Denniag
Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency
Compliance Assurance Section
2200 Churchill
Road
P.O. Box
19276
Springfield,
Illinois 62794-9276
ATTN:
Jan Hopper
3.
During this provisional
variance, Petitioner shall
operate its
wastewater treatment facility so as
to produce the best effluent
practicable.
Additionally, Petitioner shall
preform the necessary
repair work on
the sand filter
as expeditiously as possible
so
as
to
minimize the period of time that
it
is out
of service.
4.
Within
10 days
of the date of this Order, Petitioner
shall
execute
a
Certificate of Acceptance
and Agreement which
shall
be sent to Mark
T. Books
at
the Springfield address indicated above.
This variance shall
be
void
if
Petitioner fails to execute and
forward the certificate within the forty-five day
period.
The forty—
five day period
shall
be held
in
abeyance during any period that this
matter
is being appealed.
The form of said Certification
shall
be as
fol lows
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We),
Salt Creek
Drainage Basin Sanitary District S.T.P., having read
the Order of the
Illinois Pollution
Control
Board,
in
PCB 89-1, dated January
5,
1989, understand and accept
the said
Order, realizing that such acceptance
renders
all
terms
and
conditions
thereto
binding
and
enforceable.
Petitioner
By:
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
Section
41
of the Environmental
Protection Act,
Ill. Rev. Stat.
1985 ch.
111 1/2 par. 1041,
provides for appeal
of
final
Orders
of
the
Board within
35
days.
The
Rules
of the Supreme Court
of
Illinois establish filing
requirements.
IT
IS
SO
ORDERED.
~5—87
—4-
I, Dorothy
M.
Gunn, Clerk
of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby
certfy that the above Opinion and Order was adopted
on the
J”~-
day
_________
e
of
____________
of
~
989 by a
vot
I
Clerk
Illinois Po~~ution
Control
Board
95—88