ILLINOIS
POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May
1,
1981
URBANA AND CHAMPAIGN SANITARY
DISTRICT,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCI3 81—26
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J.D. Dumelle):
On February
19,
1981,
Urbana and Champaign Sanitary District
(District)
filed a petition for variance from Conditions
1 and 2
of PCB Order 77—271
(February
16,
1978) and Condition
1 of PCB
Order 79—50
(May 10,
1979).
The former request is to extend the
time for completion of start—up operations until April
1,
1982.
The latter is to extend the termination date until June
1,
1982.
On March
19,
1981,
the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency)
filed a recommendation
to grant the relief requested.
Hearing was waived and none was held.
In PCB Order 77—271 the District was granted a variance from
particular provisions of the Pollution Control Board’s Rules and
Regulations, Chapter
3:
Water Pollution subject to certain
conditions.
Specifically, the District was granted a variance
until June 30,
1981,
from the ammonia nitrogen limitations of
Rules
203(f) and 402 and from Rules
403 and 405.
the District
was also granted a variance from Rule 602(b) until June 30,
1979.
The conditions
of PCB Order 77—271 which are the subject of this
variance proceeding provided as
follows:
Condition No.
1:
The District shall
abate
its
discharge of inadequately
treated sewage as required under Rules 203(f),
402,
404(f)(ii), and 405 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution
Regulations by making the necessary improvements
in
accordance with the project completion schedule included in
the USEPA grant (C171568—03)
containing the following
schedule:
(a)
completion of construction by March 31,
1981;
(b)
Completion of start-up operations by June 30,
1981.
41—335
—2—
Condition No.
2:
The District shall abate the discharge of inadequately
treated sewage from treatment plant bypasses as required
under Rules 403 and 602(c)
of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution
Regulations by making necessary improvements in accordance
with the project completion schedule included in the USEPA
grant (C171568—03) containing the following schedule:
(a)
Completion of construction by March 31,
1981;
(b)
Completion of start—up operations by June 30,
1981.
In PCB Order 79—50,
adopted on May
19,
1979,
the District
was granted a variance from the excess infiltration and sanitary
sewer overflow prohibitions of Rule 602(b)
of Chapter
3.
The
condition of PCB Order
79—50 which is the subject of this
variance proceeding provided as follows:
Condition No.
1:
The variance shall terminate twelve months after the
District accepts a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Works
Construction Grant offer, Step III, Construction, but in no
event
later than June 30,
1981,
The District maintains two sewage treatment plants.
The
sewers tributary to the plants are exclusively sanitary type
sewers. During 1980, average total flow through the two plants
was 14,919,000 gallons per day.
The Northeast Treatment Plant discharges to Saline Drainage
Ditch which
is tributary to the West Branch of the Salt Fork of
the Vermilion River.
Saline Drainage Ditch has a seven-day,
ten—year
low flow of 2.4 cubic feet per second,
The plant has
a
design average flow of
16 million gallons per day
(“MGD”) and is
capable of bypassing both before and after primary treatment.
Sanitary sewer overflows are present on the sewer system.
The Southwest Treatment Plant Discharges
to the Copper
Slough Drainage Ditch which
is
tributary to the Kaskaskia River.
Copper Slough Drainage Ditch has a seven—day,
ten—year low flow
of
zero.
The plant has a design average flow of
5 MGD.
During
wet weather,
inflow and infiltration into the sewer system result
in hydraulic overloading and bypassing.
The District is proceeding to construct improvements to the
treatment plants and sanitary sewer system
in order
to improve
effluent quality and to eliminate excessive infiltration and
inflow problems.
The Facilities Plan for the District’s Northeast Treatment
Plant and Southwest Treatment Plant provides for expansion and
improvements to increase design average flow capacity to 17.3
MGI)
and 5.9 MGD, respectively.
The District asserts that contract
41—336
—3—
completion for construction of the upgraded
facilities will he
achieved by December,
1981.
According to
a progress report of
January
2,
1981, submitted by the District in connection with the
Construction Grants Program, construction of modifications for
the treatment plants were 92.6
complete as of December 31,
1980,
and According to Petitioner,
upgrading of the sewer system is to
be substantially completed by April
30,
1982.
The District alleges that
a denial of variance would he an
arbitrary and unreasonable hardship in that it would become
ineligible
for federal grant assistance.
A federal grant offer
had not been consummated at the time of the filing of the variance.
Since costs of construction are nearly $28 million dollars, and
since none of the delays in construction have been caused by the
District,
the Board agrees.
Furthermore, the District alleges, and the Agency does not
disagree,
that no major health threat would be imposed by
a
granting of the variance and that the District has never been
identified as having caused any such threat.
Finally, were the
variance to be denied, the District would not be able to proceed
with improvements and compliance would only be further delayed.
The Board therefore finds that the variance should be
granted as recommended.
This Opinion constitutes
the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
Urbana and Champaign Sanitary District
is hereby granted a
variance from Condition
No.
1 and Condition No.
2 of PCB Order
77—271 to extend the time for completion of
start-up operations
to April
1,
1982,
and from Condition No.
I
of PCB Order
79—50 to
extend the termination date to June,
1982,
subject to the
condition set forth below:
Within forty-five
45
days of the date of this Order,
the District shall
execute and forward to the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency,
Division of Water Pollution
Control, Variance Unit,
2200 Churchill Road,
Springfield,
Illinois 62706,
a Certificate of Acceptance and agreement to
be bound by all terms and conditions of this variance.
This
forty—five day period shall be stayed for any period during
which the matter is appealed.
The form of the certification
shall he
as follows:
41—337
—4—
CERTIFICATION
________
hereby accepts and agrees
(Petitioner)
to be hound by all terms and conditions of the Order of the
Pollution Control Board in PCB 81-26, dated__________
____
Petitioner
—
By
:
_____________________________
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board,
hereby c~rtifythat the above Opinion and Order
was adopted
pn
the
/
~
day of
________________,
1981 by
a vote of
~O
C ristan L. M~f~’tt,~
Illinois Pollutlern Control Board
4
1—338