ILLINOIS
POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January
24, 1985
CITY OF
KEITHSBURG,
)
Petitioner,
PCB 84—57
ILLINOIS
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Re
sponc~
OPINION AND
ORDER
OF ThE
BOARD
(by B.
Forcade):
This
matter
comes
the
Board on a request by the City of
~eithsburg
(~Keithsburg~
for a variance
from the BOD
,
total
suspended
solids
(~TSS”)
and
fecal coliform 1imitatio~sof
35
Ill.
Adm.
Code
304A20(a)
and
304.121.
Although no specific
termination
date
for
the
variance
is requested, Keithsburg
anticipates
regulatory
compliance through construction of a
secondary
treatment
facility by January
1, 1988.
Keithsburg’s
original
variance
petition was filed May
2,
1984,
and, in re—
spoI~1seto
Board Orders,
amended petitions were filed July
3,
1984
and September
4,
1984.
On October
15,
1984,
the Illinois Environ~
mental
Protection
Agency
(“Agency~)filed a recommendation that
variance
be
granted
with
certain conditions until July 1, 1988.
Hearing
was
held
November
28, 1984,
and
a narrative summary of
that hearing
was filed
December
13,
1985~
By Order of
December
20,
1984,
the
Board
relected
the narrative
transcript as not in
compliance
with
:35
Ili~
Adm~
Code
l04~.202.
On
January
14,
1985,
Keithsburg
and the Agency
filed
a
stipulation
that
if a rehearing
were
held
the witnesses would
testify
in
accordance
with
the
December
13,
fii:Lng~
Keithshurg
then
waived
its
hearing
request.
Keithsburg,
located
~n
Mercer
County
adjacent
to
the
Miss-
issippi
River,
has
a
:copulation
of
937~.
Keithsburg~s existing
sewage
treatment
plant
offers
primary treatment
only
and
discharges
to the
Mississippi
River~.
The record indicates
that Keithsburg~s
primary
treatment facility
is well operated
and maintained.
The
treatment
facility consists
of sewers,
a lift
station and a
Lakeside
Spiragester,
which
is
a modification
of an Imhoff tank~,
In 1982
Keithshurq
was
nominated for a Group
D plant award
(Rec,
p.
2).
A
summary
of
the
last twelve available Discharge Mon-
itoring
Reports
(~DMRs~!)
supports the Agency~sconclusion.
62-393
2
Influent
(mg/I)
Effluent
(mg/i)
Month
BOD
TSS
BOD
TSS
3/84
0.109
127
118
69
6.
2/84
0.109
125
112
81
61
1/84
0.096
122
102
78
60
12/83
11/83
10/83
0.096
155
134
84
72
9/83
0.109
127
93
77
64
8/83
0.131
119
91
68
70
7/83
0.123
127
103
67
60
6/83
0.166
119
96
57
50
5/83
0.252
109
88
63
53
4/83
0.135
119
84
47
51
Average
0.133
125
102
69
60
Those
months where
no values
are reported
indicate that
DMR~s
were
not
in
the
Agency~s
file.
No DMR~s
more recent than
March,
1984 were present in
the
Agency’s files
(Rec.
p.
3).
Under
previously
granted NPDES permits and
Enforcement
Compliance
Schedule Letters from United States
Environmental
Protection
Agency,
Keithsburg
was
authorized
to
discharge
a
maximum
of 130 mg/i
BOlD
,
140 mg/i
TSS
and
had
rio
limitation on
fecal
coliform.
Those
~ischarge
authorizations
expired February
28,
1982,
however, the
terms remained
in
effect because Keithsburg
filed a
renewal application
on December
1,
1981,
seeking the same
discharge
limitations.
On
April
5,
1984, the
Agency reissued a
permit, effective May
5,
1984,
containing final
effluent
limi-
tations
of
30
mg/i
BOD~,
30 mg/i
TSS
and
400
fecal
coliform per
100 ml,
Under
35
I11,~Adm,Code
304.130,
Keithsburg
would have
been eligible for the same
effluent
limitations
previously in
effect if it had submitted application for
a construction grant
prior
to
December
31,
1975.
Keithsburg did not
submit such a
grant
application
(Stip. Transcript
p.
10).
Keithsburg
needs
to
obtain
funding
in
order
to proceed with
its
secondary treatment project and ultimate
compliance.
Keiths-
burg
grant status
is not favorable at this time.
~eithsburg
applied
for
and
received
a
Step
1
grant
in
early
1976.
Keithsburg’s
grant
project
remains
on
the grant
priority
list
but is
listed
as
number
980,
essentially
inactive
(Rec,
p.
4).
Keithsburg has,
in
its
second
amended
petition, stated
that
it
will
attempt to
obtain
funding
through
either an
FmHA
loan
or the
construction
grants
program,
but
failing these
will
construct a
secondary
treatment
facility
at its own expense by January 1,
1988
(Am.
Pet. ~7).
While
both
the
Agency
and the Board
have
some concerns
regarding
Keithsburg~s
financial
capabilities,
Petitioner has
indicated
that adequate
funding
will be available
in the future.
Keithsburg asserts
that to
deny variance
at
this
time and
thus
require
the
city
to
immediately
finance the
construction
of
a secondary
treatment
facility
or
face
possible
enforcement
62-394
3
penalties
would constitute an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship.
Petitioner
presented evidence at the “hearing,” which was sub-
sequently
stipulated to,
that
it had to finance reconstruction of
a sewer
line segment that had recently collapsed, as well as
continue
loan payments for their primary facility (Stip. Trans-
cript p.
3-4).
The Agency agrees that requiring immediate com-
pliance would
constitute an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship
(Rec~
p.
4).
The
Board finds, that in light of the fact that
Keithsburg
does plan to
come
into compliance within a reasonable
time,
that
denying variance would constitute an arbitrary and
unreasonable
hardship.
The
environmental
impact from
the ~ur~ent
primary
discharge
appears to
be
minimal.
Based on Agency inspection
in
1981,
there
is
no
visual
impact
on
the
Nississippi
River.
No
sludge bank or
bottom
deposits
were
observed.
The
dilution
ratio at the point
of discharge
is calculated to be about 5,100:1
(Rec.
p.
5).
This
segment of the
river has experienced few water quality problems
and dissolved
oxygen levels sampled at Keokuk, Iowa, have been
high.
Because
of
the
sparse population in this area, swift
currents,
and
barge
traffic
the~e
are
no public beaches
in Keiths—
burg
or any
downstream municipalities for at least 25 to 30 miles
(Stip.
Transcript p.
7),
Rec~eationa1
use
other
than
boating
is
not expected
in
the
general
area
IRec.
p.
6).
The Board
will grant variance until July 1,
1988., subject
to
conditions.
During
the
variance period, interim limits for
1300
will be
85 mg/I and TSS limits will be 75
mg/i.
These
1ev~ls
are
tighter thar~
those
proposed
by the Agency,
but
are
b~’tter
tailored
to
the
facility’s demonstrated capabilities.
TLese
interim
limitations will help to minimize any adverse
environmental
impact.
No limits will be set for fécal coliform.
This
Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions
of
law
in this matter.
ORDER
The
City of
Keithsburg
is
hereby
granted
a
variance
from
35
Ill.
Adm,
Code
304.120a)
and
35
Iii.
Adm.
Code
304.121
until
July 1,
1988,
subject to the following conditions:
I.
During
the
period
of variance, discharges shall not
exceed
85 m9/j of BOD5 and 75 mg/i of TSS as a monthly
average, based
on
the
sampling
frequency
contained
in
NPDES
Permit
NO.
1L0021393.
2~
City of ~eithsburg shall provide secondary treatment of
its
wastewater in accordance with the following com-
pliance schedule:
62-395
4
Item
Completion
Date
Submit
plans
and
specifications for
March
1,
1986
secondary
treatment facility to DWPC/
Permit
Section
Commence
construction of secondary
On or before
September
treatment
facility
1,
1986
Complete
construction of secondary
July
1, 1988
treatment
facility.
3.
Within 45.~ays
of the date of this Order, City of
Keithsburq shall
execute
a Certification of Acceptance
and Agreement
to
be
bound
to
all
terms
and
conditions
of
this variance.
Said Certification shall be sub~uitted
to
the
Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency, DWPC/
Compliance
Assurance
Section
at
2200
Churchill
Road,
springfie)u3,,
Illinois
62706.
The
45
day
period
shall
beheld
in
abeyance during any period that this matter
~is
being
appealed.
The
form
of
said
Certification
is
as follows:
CERTIFICATION
i~
(We)
,
hereby
accept
and
agree
to
be
bound
by
all
terms
and
conditions
of
the
:~r~~:
of
the
Pollution Control Board in PCB 84—57, January 24,
1985.
Aut~uu:ized Agent
1’
it Is
Date
IT
IS
SO
ORDERED.
I, Dorothy
H.
Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby
certify ~thatt
above Opinion
and
Order
was
adopted
ant
____—
day
of
__________________,
1985 by a vote of
/
Dorothy M. Gui~,Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board