ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

August

18,

1988

IN THE MATTER OF:

)

AMENDMENT TO 35

ILL. ADM.

CODE

)

R88-22

SECTION 304.301, EXCEPTION FOR

)

AMMONIA NITROGEN WATER QUALITY

)

STANDARDS

)

PROPOSED RULE.

FIRST NOTICE.

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by R.

C. Flemal):

On July

11,

1988 the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency (“Agency”)

filed

a public comment

in

a separate

proceeding,

R88—1.

Therein

the Agency proposed that 35

Ill.

Adm.

Code Section

304.301(d)

be amended

to extend the exemption

termination date from July

1,

1988 to July

1,

1991.

In the

belief that the subject matter

of the Agency’s proposal

is more

properly considered

in a dedicated docket,

the Board today

dockets

the Agency’s proposal~within the instant proceeding and

sends the proposal

to first notice.

In so doing,

the Board notes

that

it takes

no position on the substantive merits of the

Agency’s proposal.

BASIS FOR PROPOSED AMENDMENT

The Agency provides the following argument for adoption of

the proposed amendment:

Paragraph

(b) provides an exemption

for winter

(November thru March) water quality violations.

In

adopting this rule in PCB R77—6,

the Board noted that

“biologic treatment of domestic wastewater

is virtually

universally practiced...”

(Final Order dated June 22,

1978, page 9).

The Board continued as follows

(page

10):

“The process

of

riitrification, however,

is

temperature dependent;

the rate of

nitrification decreases as the temperature

decreases.

It

is not cost—effective

to design

biological processes capable of

removing

ammonia nitrogen to 1.5 mg/i from very cold

1 The document wherein

the Agency’s proposal

is presented,

Public

Comment #3 of Board Docket R88—i,

is hereby incorporated into the

instant docket

as the Agency’s Proposal.

91—433

---

—2—

domestic wastewater.

In Illinois,

facilities

treating domestic wastewater utilizing the

types

of biologic processes which yield

effluent concentrations of 1.5 mg/l during

the

warm

months

are

usually

incapable

of

consistently

reducing

ammonia

nitrogen

concentrations below 4.0 mg/i during cold

weather.”

Since adoption,

it has been evident that these same

technological limitations remain relevant.

Biological

processes are still the only cost—effective and

environmentally acceptable means of ammonia nitrogen

reduction; and the efficiency of these processes

is

s~iilgreat1~affected by cold temperatures.

Attachment

A

provides an analysis

of the performance

of

74

municipal wastewater

treatment facilities designed for

nitrification

in Illinois.

Each facility represents

“state—of—the art” nitrification and has

a record

of

good operation.

The overall performance of these

facilities falls within the expected range.

It

is clear

that application of the most stringent effluent

standard,

1.5 mg/i,

during the winter months would

result

in unacceptably high violation rates on

a monthly

basis

for these facilities.

Water quality based permit

limits, however,

are established as daily maxima,

rather

than monthly averages.

The violation rate for

the

facilities

in Attachment

A would be significantly higher

if calculated on a daily maximum basis.

In addition,

nearly 300 other municipal sources are regulated for

ammonia discharges.

Many of these sources perform

significantly worse with regard to ammonia removal.

Typically this is due

to organic or hydraulic

overloading or operational problems.

As indicated in

Attachment B, many of

those 300 facilities are currently

designing or constructing nitrification equipment.

Each

of these facilities

is designed in accordance with the

same stringent design standards as the facilities

in

Attachment A.

The Agency believes that the prudent

course

of action would be

to extend the exception for

winter months

(Paragraph

b)

an additional

3 years.

This

will allow time for completion and performance

2 Board note: Attachments

A and B,

as referenced in this quote,

refer

to attachments

to the Agency’s Proposal

in the instant

docket

(see footnote

1).

Attachment A consists of

a two—page

tabulation

of ammonia effluent concentrations for

various sewage

treatment plants

in Illinois.

Attachment B consists of

a one—

page list

of sewage treatment facilities

in Illinois which are

currently proposing nitrification of effluents.

91—434

---

—3—

evaluation of most of these facilities.

At that time,

the Agency will be

in a better position

to assess the

need for

a permanent rule change.

ORDER

The Board hereby proposes the following amendment

for

First

Notice:

SUBPART C:

TEMPORARY EFFLUENT STANDARDS

Section 304.301

Exception for Ammonia Nitrogen Water Quality

Violations

a)

Section 304.105 shall not

apply to 6ee~en 35

Ill. Adm.

Code 302.212

for any effluent from

a source in existence

on April

1, 1977, having an untreated ammonia influent

loading not exceeding

60 pounds per day and not otherwise

needing upgrading to meet the requirements

of this

chapter.

b)

Section 304.105 shall not apply to Bee~±ei~

35

Ill.

Adm.

Code 302.212 for any source during the months of November

through March;

except that during

the months of November

through March no source not exempt under

~

subsection

(a)

shall discharge an effluent containing a

concentration of

ammonia nitrogen greater than 4.0 mg/i

if the discharge,

alone or

in combination with other

discharges,

causes or contributes

to

a violation of that

portion of See~4ert35

Ill. Adm. Code 302.212.

c)

Compliance with the provisions

of

pai&agt~pl’~

subsection

(b)

shall be achieved by March 31,

1979,

or

such other

date as required by NPDES permit, or

as ordered by the

Board under Title VIII or Title IX

of the Environmental

Protection Act.

d)

After July

1, ‘~988l991, the exemption provided

in this

9Section shall terminate.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy M.

Gunn, Clerk

of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify that the above Order was adopted on

the

/,

day

of

,4?ç~p-

,

1988, by a vote

of

~

.

d

~

J~14.

Doif’ôthy

M.

G~n,

Clerk

Illinois

Pol’lution

Control

Board

9 1—435