ILLINOIS
POLLUTION CONTROL
BOARD
October
5,
1982
DEERE
AND
COMPANY,
JOHN
DEERE
FOUNDRY,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 81—163
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION
AND
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by D. Anderson):
This matter comes before the Board upon
a petition for
variance first filed October 19, 1981 by Deere and Company,
John
Deere
Foundry
(Deere)
.
The
petition,
and
subsequent
amendments,
requests
a
variance
from
water
quality
standards
for
temperature,
total
dissolved
solids
and iron,
as they
relate
to
discharges
from
Deere’s
foundry
near
East
Moline,
Rock Island County.
The Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency
(Agency)
now recommends that the variance be granted
with
conditions.
No
hearing
was
held
and
the
Board
has
received
no
public
comment.
Because this has become somewhat confused, it is worth-
while to set forth the essential pleadings:
October 19,
1981
Variance Petition
November 19,
1981
Recommendation
June
1,
1982
First Amended Petition
July 22,
1982
First Amended Recommendation
July 23,
1982
Second Amended Petition:
“Addendum
to Petition for Variance”
July 26,
1982
Third Amendment to Petition
August 24,
1982
Second Amended Recommendation
The original petition requested
a variance for thermal
discharges
only.
The Agency recommended denial on the basis
of inadequate information
on environmental impacts.
Deere
requested a continuance in which to develop additional informa—
tion.
The first amended petition provided additional information
and expanded the request to include total dissolved solids
(TDS)
and
total iron.
The Agency amended its recommendation to a
conditional grant.
The following is
a summary of the provisions
involved:
49-21
—2—
35 Iii.
Adm.
Code
Chapter
3
Description
302.208
203(f)
Water quality standard of
1. 0 mg/i for iron
(total)
302,208
203(f)
Water quality standard of
.1000 mg/i for TDS
302.211(d)
203(i)
(3)
Maximum
temperature
rise
of
5°
F
above
natural
temperature
302.211(e)
203(i)
(4)
General
use
water quality
temperature
standard
of
60°
F
winter,
90°
F
summer
303.331
203(i)
(4)
Temperature
standards
for
Mississippi River
(North) main
stem
304.105
402
Requirement that effluents
not cause violation of water
quality standards
The second amendment indicated Deere was requesting a
variance only for the time required to pursue a site specific
rule change
(R81—26),
Merit hearings in
the
rulemaking were
completed on August 24,
1982.
On July 26 Deere
filed its
third
amendment, which would
be more correctly described as
a response to the first amended
recommendation of July 22~ This objected to proposed condition
12(f)
which
recommended
an
interim
water
quality
standard
of
2 mg/i total iron.
On August 24,
1982 the Agency amended its
recommendation to suggest a variance from
the
requirement to
comply with water quality standards rather than the standard
itself
(Section 304.105)
The facility in question is
a nodular iron foundry, with
a potential output of 150,000 tons per year.
It employs 1,070
persons and is
located northwest of Silvis,
on a 145 acre tract
bordered by the former Rock Island Railroad and State Highway 84.
It is about 1.25 miles southeast of the Mississippi River.
The foundry draws process and noncontact cooling water from
the Jordan aquifer.
It discharges, pursuant
to NPDES permit
IL 0002992, via
3 outfalls to two unnamed tributaries of Sugar
Creek,
a direct tributary of the Mississippi River.
The dis-
charge is about 1.9 million gallons per day
(MGD)
dry weather
flow.
This is
75
to 96
of the flow of the unnamed tributaries
and
75
of the flow of Sugar Creek at low flow,
49-22
—3—
The discharge is about 62
noncontact cooling water and
38
process water.
The following is
a summary of the outfalls:
001
Cooling
water
from
air
conditioners
and
roof
and
parking lot runoff
002
API
oil separator,
floor drains and some cooling
water
003
Main cooling water,
clarifier effluent and cooling
tower blowdown.
IRON
Deere’s discharge
is 1.03 mg/i iron
(total), based on a
long-term average.
This
is well within the 2.0 mg/l effluent
standard of Section 304.124, and ab~outequal to the 1.0 mg/i
water quality standard of Section 302.208,
However, the
natural background of iron in the area appears to be in excess
of the water quality standard, apparently in the form of sus-
pended solids from soils with high iron content.
As noted
above, the Agency at one time recommended an interim water
quality standard of 2.0 mg/l, although this was withdrawn when
Deere questioned whether it could guarantee even this level.
The Agency now recommends
a variance from the requirement to
comply with water quality standards.
TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS
The source of total dissolved solids is the background
in Deeres well water:
Range
(my/i)
Chloride
500—600
Sulfate
250—350
TDS
1700—1900
This is well in excess of i000,
the water quality standard
for TDS
(Section 302.208).
There is no longer an effluent
standard for TDS
(R76-21,
6 Ill.
Reg.
563, effective December
24,
1981).
TENPE
RATUPE
The major portion of the variance request involves the
thermal component of the discharges.
Included in the June 1
amended petition is data indicating maximum temperatures of
89.6°F and 96.8°F summer, which would cause violation of the
60/90°F standards of Section
302.211(e)
under
low
flow
condi-
tions.
In addition,
the discharges show differentials of as
49-23
much as 37.8°F above background,
in excess of the 5°F
standard of Section 302.211(d).
There is no indication of
thermal
violations
in the Mississippi River itself.
Deere has investigated several options to discharge to
Sugar Creek and tributaries.
These include:
1.
Deep well injection, viewed as prohibited because
of chemicals added to water to prevent scale,
corrosion and microbial growth.
2,
Direct discharge to the Mississippi, costing about
$988,000
for 9000 feet of piping.
3.
Total
cooling tower/process water
recirculation,
costing
some
$3,115,000 to develop.
The
environmental impact study submitted by
Deere
indicates
that,
although
Sugar Creek is “semi-polluted” under Agency
standards,
it
supports healthy populations of
benthic
macro—
invertebrates.
Carp, blugills
and shiners were also present.
The thermal discharge was not the limiting factor and dissolved
oxygen levels were near saturation.
Elimination of the Deere
flow,
as required by the compliance alternatives, would result
in near elimination of present available habitat.
There appears to be an impact associated with sudden
changes in temperature in the receiving stream,
The
Agency
has recommended minimization of these.
The Agency
has
also
recommended other minor operational conditions which Deere
has
not
objected
to.
The Board finds that considering the minimal net environ-
mental damage,
it would impose arbitrary or unreasonable hard-
ship on Deere to require immediate compliance or cessation of
the discharge.
Conditions will be imposed on the variance
similar to those recommended by the Agency.
As noted above,
the receiving stream has background levels of iron in excess
of the water quality standards.
An alternative
water
quality
standard would make Deere~scompliance subject to circum-
stances beyond its control.
Rather than grant the variance
from the water quality standards themselves, the Board will
grant a variance from Section 304.105,
as recommended by the
Agency.
The variance will be conditioned on discharge stand-
ards.
This
Opinion
constitutes the Board~sfindings
of
fact
and
conclusions of
law in this matter.
49~-24
—5—
ORDER
Petitioner,
Deere and Company, John Deere Foundry,
is
granted
a
variance from 35 Ill, Adm,
Code 304,105
as it applies
to the
water
quality standards for iron, total dissolved
solids and
temperature contained in
35 Ill, Adm,
Code
302.208,
302.211(d)
and 302~2ll(e)
,
subject to the following
conditions:
1.
This variance will expire January
1,
1986, or
125 days after entry of a final order in
R8l—26,
whichever happens first.
2.
Petitioner shall comply with the following
effluent
limitations at discharges
001, 002 and
003:
Monthly
Daily
Grab
Constituent
Average
Average
Sample
Iron
(total)
2 mg/i
4 mg/l
10
mg/l
Total
Dissolved Solids
1800 mg/i
3600 mg/l
9000 mg/l
Average
Maximum
Temperature
~~ture
Temperature
December through March
79°F
90°F
April
through November
84°F
98°F
3.
Petitioner shall minimize the number of
cooling
water shutdown periods or devise some
other
method
to avoid fluctuating temperatures
in its
effluent.
4.
Petitioner shall operate the API oil skimmers
so as
to avoid the discharge of oil through outfall
002
and shall maintain a daily log of their operation.
Petitioner shall eliminate the flow of oil to the
skimmers by December 31,
1984.
5.
Petitioner
shall eliminate the diversion of
effluent
from 003 to 001.
6.
The
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency shall
modify NPDES permit IL 0002992 consistent with this
Order.
7.
Within forty~’fivedays of the date of this Order,
Petitioner shall execute and forward to the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency, Variance
Section,
2200
Churchill Road, Springfield, Illinois
62706,
a certificate of acceptance and agreement
to be
bound to all terms and conditions of this
variance.
This
forty-five day period shall be held in
abeyance
49-25
—6—
for
any period this matter is being appealed.
The
form of the certificate shall be as follows:
CERTIFlCATION
I,
(We),
______________
,
having read and
fully und~ Eandingthe5x~rin PCB 81—163, hereby
accept that Order
and agree to be bound by all of
its terms and
conditions,
SIGNED
___________________________
TITLE
___________________________
DATE
__________________________
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I,
Christan
L.
Moffett,
Clerk
of the Illinois
Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify
that the
above
Opinion and Order
were adopted on the
~
day of
~
1982 by a
vote of
~
I,
~q~7~/~1
Christan L.
Moffett~.~~tlerk
Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board
49-26