ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April
2,
1981
VILLAGE OF BURLINGTON,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 80—203
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by
3.
Anderson):
This matter comes before the Board on the petition for
variance of the Village of Burlington
(Village)
filed November
5,
1980 and amended December 15,
1980 and January
29,
1981.
The
Village seeks variance from the 1.0 mg/i barium standard of Rule
304(B)~4)of Chapter
6:
Public Water Supply.
On February
27,
1981 the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) recom-
mended that variance be granted until January
1,
1984.
Hearing
was waived and none has been held.
The Village of Burlington,
located in Kane County,
delivers
finished water with a barium content of 2.7 mg/i
to its approxi-
mately 500 residents.
The Village states that it currently has
“one operation well,” although it has secured
a “grant/loan” to
finance drilling of
a new well and construction of a reservoir
tank.
The Village has,
however, been advised that the waters of
the new well may also contain excessive amounts of barium.
The Village asserts that
it
is
in no financial position to
install the necessary softening equipment
(which the Agency
believes would range
in cost from $500,000 to $800,000).
In
addition, as the Village’s residents currently rely on individual
septic systems, the Village has no sewage treatment system into
which to discharge the backwash from that equipment.
The Village
states that backwash would therefore be discharged onto open
ground or directly into
a small creek near the Village.
(The
Board would however suggest that there are other disposal options,
such as discharge into a holding lagoon.)
The Village believes
that there are therefore no feasible compliance options open to
it, assuming that its new well will,
in fact,
contain high—barium
water.
However,
the Agency states that the Village has a shallow,
low—barium well, which may be insufficient to meet all of
its
water needs, but which could be used for blending.
As the Agency
4 1—181
believes that consumption of water containing barium at the
2.7
rng/l
level presents no threat to health,
it
recommends that
variance be granted hut conditioned on the Village’s investigation
of the blending possibility.
The
Agency supports a grant of
variance only until the deadline date for exemptions under §1416
of the Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA),
42 USC §300(g)—5.
This
deadline was recently extended by PL96-502 from January
1,
1981.
until January
1,
1984.
In its previous Opinions concerning variance requests from
small public water supply systems such as the Village’s, the Board
has granted full five year variances
(e.g.
City of Minonk,
PCB
80—136, October
2,
1980,
and cases cited therein at
p.
3).
The
extension of the SDWA exemption deadline does not change the
Board’s previously expressed reasoning or result.
The Board
finds that the Village has demonstrated existence of an arbitrary
or unreasonable hardship,
and grants variance for
a five year
period,
subject to the conditions in the attached Order.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
1.
Petitioner, the Village of Burlington,
is granted a
variance from the
1.0 maximum barium concentration limit of Rule
304 of Chapter 6:
Public Water Supply
for five years,
subject
to the following conditions:
A.
By September
1,
1981,
the Petitioner shall submit to the
Agency a report on the economic feasibility
of blending water
from
Well
#1 with the high barium water from Well
#2 so that finished
water with a barium content of 1.0 mg/l or
less may be delivered.
B.
Beginning on or about June
1,
1981,
and at six month
intervals thereafter,
the Petitioner shall communicate with the
Agency in order
to ascertain whether barium removal techniques
specifically applicable to small systems have been developed
and identified.
C.
As expeditiously after identification of
a
feasible
compliance method as
is practicable, but no later than January
1,
1984, Petitioner
shall submit to the Agency a program (with
increments of progress)
for bringing its system into compliance
with barium standards.
D.
Petitioner shall
take all reasonable measures with its
existing equipment to minimize the level of barium in its water
supply and shall not allow the barium concentration to exceed
2.7 mg/l.
E.
Pursuant to Rule 313(D)(1) of Chapter
6, on or before
April 30,
1981 and every three months thereafter,
Petitioner will
4 1—182
send to each user of its public water supply a written notice to
the effect that Petitioner has been granted by the Pollution
Control Board a variance from the 1.0 mg/l maximum barium stand-
ard.
The notice shall state the average content of barium in
samples taken since the last notice period during which samples
were taken.
2.
Within forty—five days of the date of this Order,
Petitioner
shall execute and forward to David L. Rieser,
Technical
Advisor,
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Enforcement
Programs,
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 for any period this matter
is being
appealed.
The form of the certificate shall be as follows:
CERTIFICATE
I,
(We), ________________________________,
having read
the Order
of the Illinois Pollution Control Board in
PCT3 80-203,
dated _________________________,
understand and accept the said
Order, realizing that such acceptance renders all terms and
conditions thereto binding and enforceable.
Petitioner
By:
Authorized Agent
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
PJ~
day of
~
,
1981 by a vote
of
.~.
/
~
-~—.~‘
/
_____
~hristan L.
Moffett, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
41—183