ILLINOIS
POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
March
21,
1984
THE METROPOLITAN SANITARY DISTRICT
OF GREATER CHICP4GO,
Petitioner,
V.
)
PCB 84—16
ILLINOIS
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
)
AGENCY,
Respondent.
CONCURRING
OPINION
(by
J.
D.
Dumelle):
My main reason for concurring
is the lack of
a requirement
in the instant case that E.
coli.
and enterococcus be measured
in the sampling program ordered by this
Board.
On January 31,
1984 in sworn testimony in R83—20 a USEPA
official stated that new Federal bacteriological criteria
would be shortly issued using water quality enterococcus
(R.78).
On March
8,
1984 another USEPA official,
in a briefing to
this Board, stated that E. coiL and enterococcus would be used.
The MSDGC has highly competent laboratory staff who can
do analyses for these organisms.
As
it stands now, unless the
NSDGC voluntarily expands the list of organisms it tests,
its sampling will be done measuring only fecal coliform.
If
a
further
variance
is
needed
af~er
December
31,
1984
the MSDGC
will be presenting to this Board
its sampling results
using
an organism (fecal coliform)
soon to be supplanted by
an evidently better measure of the safety to the public of the
Illinois River.
That new variance,
if granted, may then not he
acceptable to the Federal government.
Worse still,
this Board,
in late 1984,
will not have the best scientific indicator of puhL.~:
health
danger
before
it
when
it
makes
its
next decision.
The prime concern of this Board has
to be protection of
public health,
Morris,
Illinois, which
is about 28.5 miles
below Lockport,
is
a major center for water-skiing.
Chicago
beaches are now closed when the levels reach 500 fecal coliform
per 100 ml.
in Exhibit
2, Table
2,
Dr. Charles
N.
Haas shows
a
doubling of fecal coliform counts at Highway 83 for the August
through December,
1983 period of no chlorination compared
to the single background month of July
.1983 when chlorination
was done
(15,200
versus 7,600).
57-233
The distance from Haisted
St.
to
Highway
83
on
the
Cal—Sag
Channel
is about
14 miles.
The die-off
in
this
stretch
was
from
268,300
to
15,200 or
a
rate
factor
of
17.6,
If
this
rate
factor
holds
true,
then
14
miles further downstream should bring the
fecal
coliforr
levels
beicw
1,000.
This
point
would
be
about
2
I~IT~b~Towthe
Lcckoort. Lock
and
Dam.
Based upon this rough
computation,
the
levels
at
Morris should not exceed the Chicago
beach closing standard because of the Calumet Plant.
However,
the ~est~-SouthwestSewage Treatment Plant,
the
largest in the world,
is located
closer to Morris than is the
Calumet Sewage Treatment Plant
by
about
7 miles.
Its untreated
effluent
will
then
have
levels higher than
15,200 at the Junction
of
the
Sanitary
and
Ship
Canal
and
the
Cal—Sag
Channel.
What
effect
this
will,
have
upon
Morris
is
not
clear.
In
R77-12
(Docket
D)
Dr.
Haas
was
the
principal
technical
witness
in opposition to
the
cessation
of
chlorination.
He
advanced die—off
formulae
and predicted bacterial levels at
Morris
and
other
.~ocations
along
the
Illinois
River.
Yet,
no
one
from
the IEPA asked
him at the
March 14,
1984 hearing if he still
held
to
those predictions
(R. 32’-34),
Were those
worst—case
predictions
~
~c.
;:cm~?
This
proceeuir:cj
~s
bothersome
because
of
the
paucity
of
data
and
the
haste
generated.
in
Exhibit
I
introduced
by
the
MSDGC,
Tables
1
and
2
she?;
oni
six
samples
at
Morris
in
1977
and
four
samp:Les
in
1983.
‘he
data
sets
are
six
years
apart.
Why
were
additional
sa~p1~
nc~ tak~n
given
the
obvious
need
for
public
heal
t.h
protectiLJr~at~
cr:TS?
Similar~y,
the
~
Recommendation,
on p.3
lists
bacterial
data
at
six
locations
for
1980,
1981
and
1982.
But
no
data
are
given
for
1983
or 1984.
~‘7as IEPA
bactsriological
sampling
discontinued
after
1982?
if
it
was.
why
was
it
discontinued
with
cessation
of
disinfection
about
to
happen?
Is
sampling
now
being done?
This
record
is
silent.
In this
proce~’lingand
:~
the immediate
past
variance
(PCB
83—72)
~i.
pattern ef
~file
‘late
and
rush
the
decision”
has
emerged
In
the
instant
case,
the
‘Petition
was
filed
Feb.
9,
a
bare
6
weeks
before
a
scheduled
MSDGC
vote
on
March
22
for
new
supplies
of
sodium
hypochiorite.
The
Board
hearing
was
held
March
14
in
such
hast:.e
that
no
member
of
the
public
received
notice
of
it
t:hroug.~i t.~-ie t~oard’s
Environmental
Register
(see
No.
288,
March
13,
19~4~.
~
2CB
83-~72 filing
was
on
June
2,
1983
which
was less than
t:.wa
c
ths
before
a
self—imposed
August
1,
1983
construct.ior~ccn.:ract
deadline.
57-234
Public scrutiny and participation at hearings are major
tenets of
the
Environmental
Protection
Act.
Future variance
applications
should be filed with the need for adequate public
notice
in
mind.
Dr. Cecil
Lue—Hing
in his testimony seemed to endorse
the IEPA
“20—mile
limit.”
But
he
gave
as
an
example
the
“precipitous
drop” in fecal colifore below the Dresden Lock
and Dam at
River Mile 272,4
(R,30—31),
The Lockport Lock
and
Dam is at River Mile 291.5 or 19.1 miles upstream.
There
are two
points to be made about Dr. Lue—Hing’s statement.
First,
the
MSDGC
plants are not at Lockport but significant
distances
upstream.
Second,
the Kankakee River joins the
Des Plaines
River at River Mile 274 to form the Illinois River.
The diluting
effect of the Kankakee River may in fact be the
reason
for lower bacterial
levels at Dresden Lock and Dam,
Respectfully
submitted
(7
/
dacob
0.
Dumelle
Chairman
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby cer’~ifythat the above Concurring Opinion
was filed on the
~
day of
~
1984.
Christan
L.
Moffett,
çjerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
57-235