ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May 5, 1988
DERBY MEADOWS UTILITIES
INCORPORATED,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 88—82
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by J.D. Dumelle):
This provisional variance request comes before the Board
upon a May 4, 1988 recommendation filed by the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency). The Agency recommends
that because of an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship the
Petitioner, Derby Meadows Utilities Incorporated, be granted a
provisional variance subject to certain specified conditions.
On April 25, 1988, the Agency received a request for a
provisional variance from Petitioner. Petitioner is requesting a
variance to repair and perform maintenance on a section of the
plant that has settled. This will result in Petitioner exceeding
its NPDES effluent limitations during the period that the tanks
are out of service. Petitioner owns and operates a wastewater
treatment facility which consists of a bar screen, two—state
activated sludge unit, secondary clarifiers, tertiary filters and
chlorination. Effluent is discharged to Long Run Creek a
tributary of the Illinois and Michigan Canal which is tributary
to the Des Plaines River. Petitioner is presently required by
its NPDES permit to meet effluent limitations of 10 mg/i for
suspended solids on a monthly average.
Petitioner is requesting the variance “to permit
rehabilitation work on those sections of the plant that have
settled due to ground conditions.” The repair work will require
a portion of the plant to be drained in order to do the necessary
work. The Agency agrees with the Petitioner that the repair work
is needed. Petitioner has stated, and the Agency agrees, that
there appears to be no alternatives to overloading the remaining
part of the plant in order to perform the work required on the
portion of the plant which has settled, thus creating a hardship
adequate enough to justify this variance. The Agency anticipates
that since the remaining portion of the plant will remain in
service, the environmental impact of the Long Run Creek caused by
part of the plant being out of service shall be minimal. There
are no public water supplies which would be adversely affected by
89—141
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granting this provisional variance. The closest downstream water
supply is Peoria Water Co,. in Peoria County. There are no
federal laws which preclude the granting of this variance.
Petitioner has stated that their anticipated effluent limits
will be 75 mg/l for BOD (monthly average), 50 mg/l for suspended
solids (monthly average), and 25 mg/l for ammonia nitrogen (daily
maximum). The Agency, however, feels that more realistic limits
would be 25 mg/i for both BOD and suspended solids (monthly
average) and 15 mg/l for ammonia nitrogen (daily maximum).
The Board hereby accepts the Agency’s recommendation and
pursuant to Section 35 of the Illinois Environmental Protection
Act grants the provisional variance as recommended. This Opinion
constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and conclusions of law
in this matter.
ORDER
The Board hereby grants Derby Meadows Utilities Incorporated
a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(a), BOD and
suspended solids and 302.212, ammonia nitrogen, subject to the
following conditions:
I. This variance shall commence upon initiation of
bypassing of the settled portion of the treatment plant
and continue for a period of 45 days or until the plant
is returned to service or until July 1, 1988, whichever
occurs first.
2. During the period of this variance, the effluent
discharged shall be limited to 25 mg/l for both BOD and
suspended solids (monthly average) and 15 mg/I for
ammonia nitrogen (daily maximum).
3. Petitioner shall sample and perform laboratory analyses
as required in NPDES permit #IL00045993.
4. Petitioner shall notify Bill Papadakis of the Agency’s
Maywood Regional office via telephone at 312/345—9780
when repair and maintenance of the settled portion of
the plant is begun and when that portion of the plant
is returned to service. Written confirmation of each
notification shall be sent within 5 days to the
following addresses:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
1701 First Avenue
Maywood, IL 60153
ATTN: Bill Papadakis
89—142
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Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Compliance Assurance Section
2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794—9276
ATTN: Mark P. Books
5. During this provisional variance Petitioner shall
operate its wastewater treatment facility so as to
produce the best effluent practicable. Additionally,
Petitioner shall perform the necessary repair work on
the plant as expeditiously as possible so as to
minimize the period of time that it is out of service.
6. 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 will be void if the County fails to execute
and forward the certificate within the 10 period. The 10
day period shall be in abeyance for any period during which
the matter is appealed. The form of the certification shall
be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I, (We), Derby Meadows Utilities Inc., having read the Order
of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, in PCB 88—82, dated May
5, 1988, 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. lii 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.
89—14 3
—4—
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certif~that the above Opinion and Order was
adopted on the
_______________
day of
7?-?
,
1988 by a vote
of
7~
.
Dorothy M. unn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
89—144