ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

July 11, 1986

CITY OF MENDOTA,

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 85—182

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

DISSENTING OPINION (by

3.

D. Dumelle):

On balance I would have granted the City of Mendota a short

variance until, say, September 1, 1987 in order to get them on a

program to solve their problem.

Mendota spent $2,000,000 in 1977 to upgrade its sewer system

to reduce water infiltration and to eliminate stream bypasses.

That is a good faith effort. Mendota is now suing its former

engineers and claims design errors in the 1977 work. While those

engineers were the City’s own agents the situation does present

some understandable mitigation.

I would have set conditions to disconnect all downspouts and

sump pumps by December 1, 1986; to rebuild or patch all leaky

manholes by that same date; to submit a stream assimilation study

to IEPA by January 1, 1987 and to perform an infiltration study

on the sewer system by July 1, 1987.

Once these actions were taken and the two studies completed

a new program could be ordered by this Board for any future

variance extension. That program could include grouting the

joints in place in the existing sewer system or inserting long

plastic liners in it. Either technique avoids replacement of the

entire sewer system and the disruption of tearing up all streets.

Mendota has a sanitary sewer system which should not

bypass. This Board has enacted numerous combined sewer overflow

exception rules allowing sewage bypasses from those systems. Are

we treating Mendota equally with a combined sewer system

community~á Mendota needs more time to work out a program it can

afford. I would have granted them that time.

71-18

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—2—

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby ç~ftifythat the pbove Dissenting Opinion was filed

on the

_____________

day of

____________

1986.

Dorothy M. GU’nn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

.

71-19