ILLINOIS

POLLUTION

CONTROL

BOARD

December 17,

1981

DOW CHEMICAL U.S.A.,

)

Petitioner,

)

PCB 81~124

)

ILLINOIS

ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION

)

AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by J,D. Dumelle):

On August

6,

1981 Dow Chemical U.S.A.

filed

a petition

for variance which was amended on October

1,

1981 and again on

October

7,

1981.

The petition presently before the Board requests

relief from Rules 203(d) and 402 of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution,

as they relate to dissolved oxygen,

for a period

of

five

years.

The Illinois Environmental Protection agency

(Agency)

filed a recommendatiori~on November

5,

1981,

recommending that

the variance be granted until October

19,

1983,

subject to

certain

conditions.

The hearing was quite

short

(30

page

transcript),

and

there

was no disagreement as to the material facts,

The objector,

Michael Biggers, appeared and testified briefly, but did not

contradict any of the testimony and was, apparently,

only seeking

information.

Dow plans to build a sanitary sewage treatment plant located

at the Marine Terminal Facility

in the southwest corner of its

Joliet plant site.

The proposed sewage treatment plant will

consist of two lift pumps,

an aerator~’settler, a sand filter,

and a chlorinator.

Dow alleges that this facility will serve

approximately 50 employees and 70 truck drivers on a 24~hour

per day, 7~dayper week basis,

This treatment facility will be

designed to treat 4,000 gallons per day of sanitary sewage

before being discharged to a drainage ditch tributary to the

Des Plaines River.

Pursuant to Section 208 of the Federal Water Pollution

Control

Act, NIPC (Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission)

developed an areawide wastewater treatment management plan

for the northeastern portion of Illinois, which includes Cook,

DuPage,

Kane, McHenry, Will and Lake Counties.

The study

indicates that the dissolved oxygen water quality standard of

Chapter 3 is being violated at numerous points throughout the

44—241

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northeastern

Illinois area,

The study,

along with other data,

shows that

in essence

all wastewater discharges within the area

that contain deoxygenating waste

are and will continue to he

probable contributors

to dissolved depressions below the present

standard

at some point or points downstream of the discharge.

On

October 19,

1978, the Board granted a variance until

October

19,

1983 for relief from Rules 203(d)

and 402 as they

apply to

dissolved oxygen,

Rules

962(a) and 902(i)(1)

as they

relate

to conformance with the Board~sdissolved oxygen water

quality standard and Rule 404(f) of Chapter

3.

This variance

was

granted for approximately 280 individual parties under

variance

proceeding ~

PCB 78~124. The

Village

of Bloomingdale and the joined parties are all existing

dischargers of deoxygenating wastes within the

NIPC

six county

area.

if Petitioner~sfacility had been in operation at the

time

of the Bloomingdale variance,

the Agency alleges that it

would

have recommendeè that the same relief be granted.

Dow

alleges, and it

is not rebutted,

that there are no

sanitary

sewage treatment systems that they could economically

tie

into and that the soil could not support a sep~csystem

(R.

12~14),

The flows from the plant are 3,6 x

10

of the

seven-day~~ten’~’year~low

flow of the Des Plaines River

(R.

17).

The plant

effluent should meet all effluent standards,

Given these

facts, the Board

finds that there would be

a

minimal

adverse environmental impact and that to deny variance

would

constitute an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship.

The

only question remaining, then,

is the length of variance.

Dow argues

that to grant variance only until October 19,

1983,

as the

Agency recommends, would be inappropriate in that

discharge

will not even begin until early 1982 and will not be

full

loaded

until early 1983

(R.

12), and that it would cause

furt er

expense to have to petition for an extension of variance

such a short

time after full operations.

However,

the Board

finds

that the administrative convenience

in keeping all

Bloomin

dale~typevariance on the same schedule outweighs

Dow

s

expense which may well be lessened by being grouped with

these

other petitioners.

Therefore,

the Board will follow the

Agency

s

recommendation.

This Opinion constitutes the Board~sfindings of

fact

and

conclusions

of

law in this matter.

ORDER

Dow

Chemical U.S.A.,

is hereby granted a variance from

Rules

203(d) and 402 as they relate to dissolved oxygen until

October

19

1983,

subject to the following conditions:

1.

Dow

shall obtain the necessary construction and operat-

ing permits from the Agency;

44—242

---

—3—

2.

Dow shall cooperate to the best of its ability in the

development and implementation of the NIPC wastewater

treatment management plan;

3,

Dow

shall operate the proposed sewage treatment

maintenance practices;

and

4.

Within 45 days of the date of this Order, Dow shall

execute and forward to the Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency, Water Pollution Control Division,

Variance Section,

2200 Churchill Road, Springfield,

Illinois 62706,

a Certification of Acceptance and

Agreement to be bound to all terms and conditions

set forth in the Order.

The 45 day period shall be

held in abeyance during any period in which this matter

is being appealed.

The form of Certification shall

CERTIFICATION

____________________

hereby accepts and agrees to be

bound by all

terms

and conditions of the order of the Pollution

Control Board in PCB

* 81—124, dated

__________

Petitioner

By

-

authorized agent

Date

_________________

IT

IS

SO

ORDERED

I,

Christari L.

t4offett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board,

hereby qertify that

he above Opinion and Order

was adoptçd on the

/7~

day of

_____________,

1981 by a

vote of

q-o

C ristan

L.

o

,

Illinois Polluti

Control Board

44—243