BEFORE
THE ~
BOARD
RECEIVED
IN THE MATTER OF
)
CLERK’S
OFF7CE
)
JUL11~jJ~2
WATER QUALITY AMENDMENTS TO
)
35 Ill.
Adm. Code 302.208(e)-(g), 302.504(a)
)
R02-1
I
STATE OF
ILup~uis
302.575(d), 303.444, 309.141(h); and
)
(Rulemakin~S~iLiY
Q,ntrol
Board
PROPOSED 35111.
Adm. Code 301.267,
)
301.313, 301.413, 304.120, and 309.157
)
NOTICE OF FILING
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on this date, July
11,
2002, I filed with Dorothy Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, James R.
Thompson Center,
100 West Randolph,
Suite 11-500, Chicago, IL 60601, the enclosed Pre-filed Testimony of Cynthia L.
Skrukrud
Regarding The First Notice Proposal.
Albert F.
Etti
er
Albert
F. Ettinger
Environmental Law and Policy Center
35
East Wacker Drive,
Suite
1300
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 795-3707
BEFORE THE
ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
RECEIVED
IN
THE MATFER OF:
)
CLERK’S
OFFICE
JUL11
WATER QUALITY AMENDMENTS TO
)
35111. Adm Code 302.208(e)-(g),
302.504(a),
)
R02-1
1
STATE OF
ILLiPEUIS
302.575(d),
303.444, 309.141(h); and
)
(Ru1emakin~~IYfS~
lontro!
Board
PROPOSED
35
Ill. Adm. Code
301.367,
)
301.313, 301.413, 304.120, and 309.157
)
PRE-FILED
TESTIMONY OF CYNTHIA L. SKRUKRUD REGARDING THE FIRST
NOTICE PROPOSAL
Introduction
The Sierra Club,
the Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest (“ELPC”) and
Prairie Rivers Network (“PRN”) submit the following Pre-Filed Testimony of-Cynthiat. Skrukrud
regarding the First Notice Proposal for presentation at the July
25,
2002 hearing scheduled in the
above-referenced matter:
Further Testimony of Cynthia L. Skrukrud. Ph.D.
My name is Cindy Skrukrud.
I presented testimony in this proceeding
at the March 6, 2002
hearing.
My professional qualifications and experience were
presented in testimony given at that
hearing.
I agree strongly with the Board’s decision that relaxation ofthe cyanide
standard is not
warranted at this time.
Further, while the lack of implementation rules for other standards changes
remains a matterof serious concern, I will not revisit that issue in this testimony.
I will focus here on the proposed change to allow CBOD5 to
be used in permits instead of
BOD5.
The Board in its opinion specifically encouraged participants to
offer additional comment
on this matter.
Through this testimony, the Sierra
Club, ELPC
and PRN offer an alternative
proposal for CBOD5
effluent regulations that:
-
Has all of the advantages ofthe Illinois EPA proposal,
-
Follows the precedent ofU.S. EPA,
-
Can easily be complied with by Illinois dischargers, but
-
Does not
allow as great an increase in discharges of oxygen-demanding pollutants
into Illinois
streams.
The Board certainly should not unnecessarily weaken Illinois’
effluent limits.
The available
evidence indicates that many Illinois waters are violating the Illinois water quality standard for
dissolved oxygen.
Moreover, it is not true that there is sound evidence showing that discharges of
oxygen demanding pollutants are not causing violations ofwater quality standards-in Jllinois.
In
fact, as was explained in the
Post-Hearing Comments ofthe Environmental Lawand Policy Center,
Prairie Rivers Network and Sierra Club,
filed April
12,
2002 in this proceeding, the dissolved
oxygen standard continues to be violated in many Illinois waters.
While we do not know the cause
of these violations, many ofthe affected waters receive significant discharges from sewage
treatment plants and other dischargers ofoxygen demanding pollutants.
In addition to the instances ofviolations ofthe state’s dissolved oxygen standard we have
previously presented, we now knowthat
82 hours ofcontinuous monitoring
on the DuPage River in
August of2001
shows periods of many hours when the levels of dissolved oxygen dropped well
below the standard.
This data is from a free-flowing section ofthe river in Will County
and is part
of a study that will be published by The Conservation Foundation and the U.S. EPA.
Large
quantities of discharge from sewage treatment plants upstream could have contributed nutrients and
oxygen demanding pollutants
leading to
this violation (Exhibit 1).
Our proposed language simply adds to the First Notice proposal limitations on the discharge
of oxygen demanding pollutants that parallel the federal
requirement that effluent discharges shall
not exceed 25
mgfL CBOD5
in the situation in which a 30 mg/L
BOD5 limit would be applicable.
Currently, in
order to comply with federal regulations, the last sentence of the proposed new
subsection 304.120(g) states:
Effluent from treatment works subject to the requirements of Section 304.l20(a~
shall not
exceed 25 m2/L CBOD5.
To that sentence, the Board at a minimum should add the words “and sources subject to
Section 304.120(b) shall not exceed
16 mg/L CBOD5”.
The last sentence of the proposal would
then read:
Effluent from treatment works subject to the requirements ofSection 304.l20(a~
shall
not
exceed 25mgfL CBODS and sources subject to
Section 304.l20(b~
shall not exceed
16
mg/L CBOD5.
Unnecessary pollution should not be
allowed into its rivers, lakes and streams.
There
is no
reason for rejecting our proposed amendment to the First Notice proposal because dischargers can
easily meet a
16 mgIL
limit.
Mr. Michael
Callahan, testifying
on behalf ofthe Illinois Association
of Wastewater Agencies at the March 6 hearing, made clear that the 10 mg/L effluent limit,
applicable to
dischargers subject to Section 304.120(a), is
“readily attainable.”
This is hardly
surprising given that the Board found over 20 years ago that the
10 mg/L limit could be
met using
the technology then readily available.
See In the Matter of:
Amendments to the Water Pollution
Control Re2ulations, No. R77-12
Docket C,
1980 Ill. Env. Lexis
427 (February 21,
1980).
2
Finally,
the Board should not, in any event, allow the matter ofprotecting Illinois waters
from oxygen demanding pollutants to end here. The Agency should be required to develop
implementation rules for the dissolved
oxygen standard that consider the contributiorwhtch
nitrogenous BOD makes to the total BOD load in a typical effluent as the nitrogenoiiwcomponent’
can well make up more than
15
ofthe total.
It is simply
not adequate to
control the nitrogenous
BUD component by assuming that ammonia limits will prevent any problem.
As we have
previously demonstrated, permits are granted without ammonia limits and with ammonia limits so
high that the nitrogenous BUD component could well exceed the carboneous BOD component of
the effluent.
Illinois’
scheme for regulating deoxygenating wastes needs to consider all likely
scenarios.
Cynthia
L.
Skrukrud, Ph.
D.
Clean Water Advocate, Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter
4209 W. Solon Rd.
Richmond, IL
60071
815-675-2594
cskrukrud(~1~earthIink.
net
July
11,
2002
3
EXHIBIT I
DuPage River@ 119th Street
30
-
12245
~
a22
E21
I!20.
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
2
~
August 2,2001
-
August 5, 2001
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, Albert F. Ettinger, certify that I have filed the above Notice ofFiling together with an
original and 9 copies of the Pre-Filed Testimony of Cynthia
L.
Skrukrud Regarding the First
Notice Proposal,
on recycled paper, with the Illinois Pollution Control Board, James R.
Thompson Center,
100 West Randolph, Suite 11-500, Chicago, IL
60601, and served all the
parties on the attached Service List by depositing a copy in a properly addressed, sealed envelope
with the U.S.
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, with proper postage prepaid on July
11, 2002.
Albert F. Etti~
Albert F. Ettinger, Senior Attorney
Environmental Law and Policy Center
35
East Wacker Drive, Suite
1300
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 673-6500
SERVICE LIST
Mike Callahan
Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District
P.O. Box
3307
Bloomington, IL 61702
Larry Cox
Downers Grove Sanitary District
2710 Curtiss
Street
Downers Grove, IL
60515
Dennis Daffield
Department of Public Works
City of Joliet
921
East Washington Street
Joliet,
IL 60433
Lisa M.
Frede
Chemical Industry Council
9801
West Higgins Road
Suite
515
Rosemont, IL
60018
James T. Harrington
Ross & Hardies
150 North Michigan, Suite 2500
Chicago, IL 60601
Ron Hill
Metropolitan Water Reclamation
District
100 East Erie
Chicago, IL 60611
Katherine Hodge
Hodge Dwyer Zeman
3150 Roland Avenue
P.O. Box 5776
Springfield,
IL
62705-5776
Margaret P. Howard
Hedinger & Howard
1225
South Sixth Street
Springfield; IL
62703
Robert A. Messina
Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group
215
East Adams Street
Springfield, IL
62701
Tom Muth
Fox Metro Water Reclamation District
682 State Route
31
Oswego, IL 60543
Irwin Polls
Metropolitan Water Reclamation
District ofChicago
6001
West
Cicero, IL 60804
Sanjay Sofat
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
1021
North Grand Avenue East
Springfield,
IL 62794-9276
Marie Tipsord
Attorney, Pollution Control
Board
100 West Randolph Street,
11-500
Chicago, IL 60601