ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

April

16,

1981

CONVENT SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT,

Petitioner,

)

 PCB 81—6

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGE!’~CY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION

1~ND

ORDER OF THE BOARD

 (by J.D. Dumelle):

On January

21,

 1981 the Convent Sewage Treatment Plant

(CSTP)

 filed a variance petition requesting relief from Rul~

402 and 404 of Chapter

3:

 Water Pollution,

 as they pertain

to dissolved oxygen.

 Pursuant

 to Board order, CSTP filed

an amended petition on February

10,

 1981 to cure noted

deficiencies.

 On March 12,

 1981 the Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency

 (Agency)

 filed a recommendation to grant the

variance with certain modifications and conditions.

 Hearing was

waived and none was held.

The Congregation of Planteiiate Servants of Mary of Pistoria,

owners and operators of CSTP,

 intend

 to build a new convent

southwest of the City of Plainfield along R.R.

 3, Drauden

Road,

 in Will County.

 It is expected to house up to 25 people

upon completion and ultimately will house as many as

40.

A package sewage treatment plant which will discharge to the

 DuPage River has been designed to service the convent and

IR

scheduled to be completed

 in 1981.

The proposed facility consists

of

 a septic tank,

 dosing

tanks,

 2 intermittent sand filters, a chlorination manhole,

2100 feet of 6—inch sanitary sewer pipe and 11 standard 4—foot

diameter manholes.

 Normal loading

 is anticipated to be 2500

gallons per day.

 The design effluent concentrations of ~3OD5

and SS are

 4 mg/l

 50 per cent of the time and greater than

12 mg/i

 10 per cent of

the

 time.

Variance from Rule 404 is denied as unnecessary in that

that rule sets a BOD5 effluent limitation considerably above

the expected concentrations from the CSTP.

 Further,

 the former

requirement of a demonstration of non—violation of water quality

standards pursuant to Rule 404(f)(ii) has now been deleted

from Rule 404.

 However,

 in order to obtain the desired relief,

a variance from Rule 203(d) of Chapter

3

 is necessary,

and

the Board hereby considers that relief on its own motion.

41— 277

—2—

The relief sought by CSTP is identical to that granted

by the Board in Village of Bloomingdale v. EPA

 (PCB

 78—124,

32PCB23,

 Nov.

2,

 1978), and the reasoning of that case applies

 here.

 In Bloomingdale nearly

 300 dischargers to the DuPago

and Des Plaines Rivers were joined in a variance proceeding

regarding depressed dissolved oxygen

 (DO) levels in those

rivers.

 Demonstrations of non—contribution to violations

of DO standards by all dischargers was held to impose an arbitrary

and unreasonable hardship, especially since those standards ~iight

have been changed by a then pending regulatory proceeding

 (R77—1.2,

Docket C).

 Despite the fact that R77—12 has now been decided

and the 4/5

 (BODç/SS)

 standard has now been dropped,

 the Agency

has not argued triat that decision changes the reasoning, nor has

it presented any evidence concerning present water quality i~

the affected rivers.

 However, based upon that reasoning

the

Board finds that denial of the variance with respect to Rules

203(d)

 and 402 of Chapter

 3 would constitute an arbitrary and

unreasonable hardship.

 Further, based upon the effluent quality

of the proposed CSTP and its minimal discharge,

 the Board finds

that there will be little or no environmental impact.

The Board will not set effluent limitations on the CSTP

because the record does not give sufficient information to

do

so.

 However,

 it is expected that the plant will operate

in reasonable conformity with the design concentrations.

Finally, the CSTP will be located in the Plainfield

 Facility Planning area which

 is included in the Northeastern

Illinois Planning Commission’s 208 Plan.

 Under Rule 902(j)(4)

of Chapter

 3, CSTP must obtain a revision of that plan to

include its discharge prior to Agency approval of construction

or operation permits.

This Opinion constitutes the Boardts findings of

 eact

and conclusions of law

 in this matter.

ORDER

Convent Sewage Treatment Plant is hereby granted

 a varidrice

from Rules 203(d) and 402 of Chapter

 3 as they pertain to

dissolved oxygen until October

23,

 1983 subject

 to the

 fo.llowinq

conditions:

1.

 CSTP shall obtain a revision of the areawide water

quality management plan consistent with this varianee

to include its proposed sewage treatment plant

in

this plan.

2.

 CSTP shall, at such time as the Plainfield sewer

system becomes available,

 connect

 to this system

and abandon its sewage treatment plant after obtaininq

all necessary permits.

41—278

3.

 Within 45 days after the Board Order, the CSTP shal.i

execute and forward to the Illinois Environmentat

Protection Agency, Division of Water Pollution

Control, Compliance Assurance Section,

 2200 Churchill

Road, Springfield, Illinois

 62706,

 a Certification

 of Acceptance and Agreement to be bound by all con~tL~n~

of this Variance.

 This forty—five day period shall

be stayed if CSTP seeks judicial review of this Varidn’~.

The form of

 said Certification shall be as follows:

CERTIFICATION

I,

—

 having re~td

f~ie

Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board in PCB

 81—6,

Dated

__________________,

 understand and accept the Order

and

agree to be bound by all of its terms and conditions.

_______________________________________________

 Petitioner

_______________________________________________

 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

was adopted on the

 day of

1981

by a vote of

______.

Christan L. Moffett,

O~Ierk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

4 1—279