ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April 24,
1986
CITY OF PEKIN
)
(Sewage Treatment Plant
#1)
)
)
Petitioner,
)
)
v.
)
PCB 86-61
)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
)
Respondent.
)
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by W.J.
Nega):
This provisional variance request comes before the Board
upon an April 24, 1986 Recommendation of the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency).
The Agency recommends
that
a provisional variance beginning on April 10,
1986 and
continuing through April
19,
1986
be granted to the City of Pekin
(Sewage Treatment Plant
#1)
from 35
111.
Adm.
Code
304.121
(bacteria)
for the time period that chlorination was discontinued
until
a replacement chlorination pump could be obtained and
installed.
The City of Pekin
(City),
which has a population
of 33,967
people,
owns and operates
a municipal wastewater treatment
facility located at the southernmost end of the city
in Tazewell
County,
Illinois.
The Petitioner’s facilities
include bar
screens,
an aerated grit chamber, flow measurement equipment,
pumps, primary clarifiers,
secondary clarifiers,
an activated
sludge process, aerobic and anaerobic digesters,
a sludge lagoon,
an excess flow basin, and chlorination.
The Petitioner’s
treatment plant has a design average flow of 3.7 million gallons
per day
(MCD) and discharges effluent directly into the Illinois
River,
a tributary of the Mississippi River, pursuant to the
appropriate NPDES Permit authorization.
(Rec.
1).
The Petitioner
is currently required by its NPDES Permit
#ILO034495 (which was issued on April
6,
1983 and expires on
April 30,
1988)
to meet final effluent discharge limitations
from
Outfall 001
of 20 milligrams per liter
(mg/i) of five-day
biochemical oxygen demand
(BODs) on
a
30 day average and
25 mg/i
of total suspended solids (TSS~on a monthly average.
Additionally, the Petitioner’s effluent must meet
a standard of
0.75 mg/i for chlorine residual and must comply with the daily
maximum of 400 per 100 milliliters
(ml)
for fecal coliform.
(Rec.
1).
According to Agency records, the City’s effluent has
69.286
-2-
been in compliance with its NPDES Permit requirements
continuously during the time period from October,
1983 through
March,
1986
(except for the month of March, 1985).
(Rec.
1-2).
On April 10,
1986,
the City’s chlorination pump at its
Sewage Treatment Plant
#1 suddenly failed.
(Rec.
2).
According
to
the Petitioner’s consulting engineering firm,
the situation
that existed
at that time was
as follows:
“...The variance
is requested
to allow Pekin
to discontinue chlorination until the pump
is
replaced without violation of their permit.
The chlorination pump supplies approximately
100 gallons
per minute of water to
the
chlorination system.
This water mixes with
chlorine gas and flows to
the chlorine contact
basin as
a chlorine solution where
it
disinfects the secondary effluent before the
effluent
is discharged to the river.
Without
the pump,
the system cannot operate...
...The chlorination system cannot be operated
without the chlorination pump.
No backup
alternative pump was available to replace the
existing pump.
It
is impossible
to chlorinate
and comply with the permit until the
chlorination pump
is repaired or replaced.
An
evaluation of the condition of the existing
pump indicated that
it was not possible to
salvage
it, and a new pump must be purchased
as
a replacement.”
(See:
page
2 of the attachment to the letter
dated April
16,
1986
from Randolph &
Associates,
Inc. to the Agency.)
The Petitioner originally requested
a provisional variance
for
22 days beginning on April
10, 1986 to allow adequate time
for the purchase and installation of
a replacement chlorination
pump,
thereby permitting the City to discontinue chlorination
until
the pump was replaced.
Fortunately,
the City was able to
obtain and install
a new chlorination pump sooner than originally
anticipated.
It is noted
that
“updated information received by
the Agency on April 21,
1986,
indicates that the replacement
chlorination pump was received and installed by Petitioner on
April 19,
1986.”
(Rec.
2).
The Agency has indicated that
“Petitioner has requested
the
provisional variance beginning April 10,
1986,
so that
it will
not violate its
NPDES permit while the chlorination pump is
replaced”.
(Rec.
1).
In reference to the requested relief,
the
Agency has stated that:
69-287
-3-
“Variance relief cannot be granted
from permit
conditions; however,
since chlorination has
been stopped due to the broken pump the
chlorine residual should be below the 0.75
mg/i average.
Thus,
the Agency considers
Petitioner’s request
for relief from violation
of the chlorine residual limits of its NPDES
permit as unnecessary as there should be no
chlorine residual and that the requested
relief regarding fecal coliform is to be
construed as
a request
for variance from 35
Ill.
Adm.
Code 304.121.”
(Rec.
2).
The Board agrees with the Agency’s reasoning as to the
appropriate extent
of the relief to be granted and will therefore
construe the Petitioner’s request
as pertaining to
35
Ill.
Adm.
Code 304.121.
The Agency expects that there will
be little adverse
environmental impact upon the Illinois River from the
Petitioner’s
effluent
discharge
given
the
short
duration
of
the
discharges
while
chlorination
was
discontinued.
The
nearest
town
downriver
is
approximately
100
miles
away
(i.e.,
Beardstown)
and
it
is unlikely that the discharge will directly significantly
affect any major population centers.
Because the first
downstream public water supply
is
the City of Alton on the
Mississippi River,
the Agency has concluded that
“there
are no
downstream public water supplies which would be adversely
affected by granting this provisional variance.”
(Rec.
2).
However, as stated by the Petitioner’s engineering consultants,
“it
is probable the unchlorinated effluent may produce high fecal
coliform levels in the water in the immediate vicinity of the
outfall”.
Nonetheless,
the Agency agrees with the Petitioner
that the expected environmental impact will be minimal and
emphasizes
that
“Petitioner discharges directly to the Illinois
River, which during the period October, 1983 to September,
1984
had a minimum recorded flow of approximately 3200 MCD at
Pekin”.
(Rec.
2).
In reference to viable alternative methods of compliance,
there appears
to have been no feasible alternative to ordering
and installing a replacement pump and the concomitant equipment
parts, since no backup alternative pump was available to
immediately replace
the existing pump.
Based on the inability of the Petitioner
to provide
chlorination during the time period that the chlorination pump
was being replaced,
the Agency agrees with the Petitioner’s
contention that denial of the provisional variance would create
an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship
in this case.
The Agency
has also stated that there are no federal regulations that would
preclude the granting of the provisional variance.
(Rec.
2).
69-288
—4-
The Agency has therefore concluded that compliance with
applicable standards would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable
hardship upon the Petitioner.
(Rec.
1-2).
Accordingly,
the
Agency has recommended that the Board grant the Petitioner
a
provisional variance from 35
Ill.
Adm.
Code 304.121, subject to
certain conditions.
Pursuant
to Section
35(b)
of the Illinois Environmental
Protection Act,
the Board will grant
the provisional variance as
recommended.
This
Opinion constitutes
the Board’s findings of
fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
The City of Pekin
(Sewage Treatment Plant
#1)
is hereby
granted
a provisional variance from 35 Ill.
Adm.
Code 304.121,
subject
to the following conditions:
1.
The provisional variance shall commence on
April
10,
1986 and shall continue through
April
19,
1986.
2.
The Petitioner
shall operate and maintain its
Sewage Treatment
Plant
#1
so as to provide
the
best effluent practicable.
3.
‘v4ithin 10 days
of the date of the Board’s
Order,
the Petitioner shall execute
a
Certification of Acceptance and Agreement
which shall
be sent
to
Mr. James Frost of the
Agency at the following address:
Mr.
James
Frost
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Water Pollution
Control
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield,
Illinois
62706
This certification shall have the following
form:
I,
(We),
,
having read
the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board
in PCB 86—61,
dated April
24,
1986, understand and accept the said Order,
realizing that such acceptance renders all terms and conditions
thereto binding and enforceable.
Petitioner
69-289
-5-
By:
Authorized Agent
Title
Da
t e
IT
IS
SO
ORDERED.
I,
Dorothy
M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby certi~~thatthe above 9piniop and Order was
adopted on the
-~i~-
day of
____________________,
1986 by
a
vote of
—
.
~:i2r
/L~
Dorothy
M.
unn,
Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
69-290