apply to dissolved oxygen, subject to following conditions:
the Terre Fair Sfl as soon as practicable;
43—139

ILLNIOIS

POLLUT ION

CONTROL

BOARD

July

31,

1981

THE

 FOGELSON COMPANIES,

 INC.,

an Illinois Corporation,

Petitioner,

)

PCB

 81—69

v.

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by

J.D.

 Dumelle):

On

 April

28,

 1981 the Fogelson Companies,

 Inc.

 (Fogelson)

filed

 a petition for variance from Rules

 402 and 404 of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution.

 An amended petition was filed on May

13,

 1981.

Hearing was waived.

 On May

28,

 1981 an objection to the v7iriance

was

 filed and in reponse a hearing was scheduled for July 21,

1981.

However, only the parties and the objector appeared,

 and pursuant

to an agreement between all present,

 the objector withdrew his

objection and no hearing was actually held.

 Although the Board

is

reluctant to allow the cancellation of hearings for which notic~

has gone

 to the public through the Environmental Register,

in

this case since the objector agreed and no one else appeared,

there appears

 to have been

no

prejudice to anyone.

 Therefore,

the Board can properly reach

 a decision on the pleadings and

the

Environmental Protection Agency’s

 (Agency)

 amended recommendation

which was filed on July 22,

 1981, recommending that variance be

granted subject to certain conditions.

Fogelson owns a sewage treatment plant

 (STP)

 located

in

Lake

County near Buckley and

St.

Mary~sRoads.

 The STP receives

domestic waste from 130 single family h~omes, ninety of which are

located in the Terre Fair

Development

 in unincorporated Lake

County and forty of which are located

in

Saddle Hill

Subdivision

in the Village of Green Oaks.

The STP,

 located

in

East—Central Lake County

is

 a contact

stabilization package plant with a design average flow of 0.035

million gallons per day which discharges into the Des Plaines

River.

 Its prior NPDES Permit No,

 1L0045853,

 which expired on

December 31,

 1978 allowed

effluent

 biochemical oxygen demand

(BOD5)

 and suspended solids

 (SS) concentrations of

 30 mg/i.

The STP

 is within

that

area

northeastern

Illinois

 encompassed by the areawide wastewater treatment management

plan

developed by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission

 (NIPC)

pursuant to Section 208 of the Federal Water Pollution Control

Act.

43—137

—2—

Fogelson

requests

variance

from

Rules

402

and

404

enable

it to continue discharging from its STP at its prior NPDES permit

concentration

levels

for

deoxygenating

wastes.

The relief requested

here

similar

that

requested

Bloomirtgdale

EPA,

(PCB

78—124,

PCB

23,

November

1978),

and

the

Board’s

reasoning

 in that

case applies here.

In

Bloomingdale nearly 300

dischargers

the

Des

Plaines

and

Page

Rivers were joined in a variance proceeding regarding depressed

dissolved oxygen

 (DO) levels

 in those rivers.

 Demonstrations of

non—contribution to violations

of

DO by all dischargers was held

to be an arbitrary and

unreasonable

hardship.

However,

 there

have

been some problems with the STP operation,

resulting in complaints

 of noise, odors,

 and overflows.

The

Agency indicates in its recommendation that these problems appear

to result from operation and maintenance lapses.

 The Agency has

determined that the STP

has only

one blower rather than the

required two and the existing blower

 is in poor condition.

Further,

 the Agency notes

that

the fence surrounding the STP

is

inadequately maintained.

For

this

reason,

 a variance grant must

be conditioned upon remedying these problems.

Discharge Monitoring Reports for 1980 indicate that the STP

has only twice violated NPDES permit limitations with respect to

B0D5 and SS.

 The Board must

assume,

 since neither the petition

nor the recommendation

indicate

the dilution ratio, that the 30/30

NPDES limitations reflect

Board

regulations applicable to the STP.

This being the case, variance from Rule 404 appears to be unneces-

sary.

 However,

 since

Fogelson

mischaracterizes Rule 404,

 the Board

notes that Rule 402, rather than Rule 404, prohibits effluent

contributions to DO

depressions

“below the present water quality

standards.”

 Thus, variance from Rule

404

is denied as unnecessary.

However in order

for Fogelson

to obtain its requested relief,

variance from Rule 203(d) relating to violation of water quality

standards for DO must be granted.

The Board finds that

the

discharge flow here

 is small and

that the effluent

quality

has

been

generally good.

 The Board

further finds that there

will be little

or no adverse environmental

impact.

 Given

the eventual planned

abandonment of the STP and

diversion of flows to

the

Libertyville STP, the obvious similarity

to Bloomingdale, and

the impossibility

of connections

 at this time

to the Southeast Central Interceptor Sewer,

 the Board

 finds that

denial of variance from Rules

 203(d)

 and 402 would constitute an

arbitrary and unreasonable hardship, provided that oertain

conditions are met to

assure the

proper operation,

 maintenance

and protection of the plant.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law

in

this matter.

43—138

—3-.

ORDER

The

Fogelson

Company,

Inc.

hereby

 granted variance

train Rules 203(d) and 402 of Chapter 3:

 Water Pollution,

 as they

apply to dissolved oxygen, subject to following conditions:

a.

 This variance shall expire on October 19, 1983

or upon diversion of all flows to the

LCDPW

 Southeast

Central Interceptor Sewer tributary to the Libertyville

STP, whichever occurs first;

b.

Whenever

 the interceptor sewer becomes

available, Fogelson shall connect to it

and

abandon

the Terre Fair Sfl as soon as practicable;

a.

 Fogelson shall obtain all necessary

permits

for expanding its Terre Fair STP.

d.

 Fogelson shall assure that the Terre Fair STP

is at all times fully equipped as required by applicable

Agency permits; to this end, Fogelson shall immediately

begin steps to acquire and install a replacement

backup

blower

and

shall assure that the backup blower is

operational and in

use

at the earliest possible moment,

but in no case later than August 30,

 1981, unless

Fogelson has demonstrated to the Agency satisfaction

by August 15,

 1981, that a specific later date is the

 earliest possible date on which the blower

can

put

in use.

 Once the backup blower is on line,

the

 other

blower will be taken off line and expeditiously repaired

or replaced.

 At no

time

after the expiration of 45

days following installation of the backup blower will

Fogelson allow the STP to operate without a backup

blower installed

and

 operational.

e.

 Fogelson shall expeditiously prepare

and subnit

to the Agency a plan to achieve adequate operation and

security for the STP.

 Such plan shall require as a

minimum, the installation of a fence of sufficient

height, strength and length to discourage vandalism

and

theft.

 In addition, the plan shall address the use of

Lake County

Public Works Department personnel, the

efficacy

 and cost of alarm systems and the use of local

and

 county

law

enforcement

officers

 to assure proper

operation

and

protection of the Sfl.

2.

 The IEPA is hereby authorized to reissue an NPDES Permit

to Fogelson consistent with the Board’s Order and including the

requirement that Fogelson’s STP shall be operated using the best

 practicable operation and maintenance practices.

3.

 Fogelson’s request for variance from Chapter 3, Rule 404

is hereby denied as unnecessary.

43—139

—4—

4.

 Within 45 days after the date of this Or~.lerF~yelson

shall execute and forward

 to the Illinois Environmental

Protection

Agency,

 Water Pollution Control Variance Section, 2200 Churchill

Road,

 Springfield,

 Illinois

62706

 a Certification of Acceptance

and Agreement to be bound to all terms and conditions of the

variance.

 This 45 day period shall be held in abeyance for any

period during which this matter is being appealed.

 The form of

said Certification shall be as follows:

CERTIFICATION

I,

 (We), _______________________________

 having read

the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board

 in PCI3 81—69

dated ___________________________, understand and accept tht?

~id

conditions thereto binding and enforceablr.

Petitioner

By:

 Authorized Agent

Title

Date

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereb~certify that the above Opinion and Order

was adopted On the

~

 day of

~

______

1981

by a vote of

~3-

C

Ch

 stan L. Moffe~,.Clerk

Illinois Pollutior~-d~ntrolBoard

43—140