ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
March 4, 1982
MACON SANITARY DISTRICT,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 81—193
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by I. Goodman)
This matter comes before the Board upon a Variance Petition
filed on December 9, 1981 by the Macon Sanitary District
(“Macon”) which requested a variance from Rule 1201 of Chapter
3: Water Pollution Control Regulations (“Chapter 3”) for a
period of 18 months until July of 1983 to allow Mr. James
Benson, an uncertified operator, to continue to operate Macon’s
wastewater treatment plant (the “plant” or “facility”) until
the construction of new treatment facilities, incorporating a
lagoon system, is completed. On December 17, 1981, the Board
entered an Order which indicated that the Petitioner should
file an amended petition containing an affidavit, attesting
to the truth of the facts alleged, as required by Procedural
Rule 401(a). On December 28, 1981, Macon filed an Amendment
to its Petition for Variance. On January 27, 1982, the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (“Agency”) filed its
Recommendation which recommended that the variance be granted,
subject to various conditions. No hearing was held in this
matter.
The Petitioner’s sewage treatment facility, which is
located one mile south of the City of Macon on U.S. Route 51,
was built in 1953 and now serves a population of about 1,300
persons. (Pet. 1). The plant includes a diversion chamber,
Imhoff tank, trickling filter, non—mechanical final clarifier
and sludge drying beds, but doesn’t presently have disinfection
equipment, flow meters, samplers, or a laboratory. (Pet. 3).
The influent to the facility consists of domestic sewage, inflow,
and infiltration. (Pet. 2). Design average flow is 0.214 million
gallons per day, with effluent from the treatment plant flowing
into an unnamed tributary to Dry Branch, a tributary of Willow
Creek. (Pet. 1—2). Willow Creek is a tributary of the Flat
Branch which, in turn, is tributary to the South Fork of the
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Sangamon River. (Rec. 2). The Macon Sanitary District was
placed on restricted status by the Agency in December of 1974.
Effluents are discharged pursuant to NPDES Permit No, IL 0022454
which expired on February 1, 1981. Permit renewal is pendinc~
(Rec. 2). Recent discharge monitoring reports submitted to the
Agency indicate compliance with the interim effluent limitations
for 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (“BOD
“)
and total suspended
solids (“TSS”) set by its NPDES Permit. ~Rec. 2—3).
The Petitioner has received a Step 2 Step 3 State of
Illinois Pollution Control Grant (#C171126) for design and
construction of a new wastewater treatment facility which will
have a design capacity of 1,500 P.E. and include a two cell
stabilization lagoon with three month winter storage, four
intermittent sand filters, flow recorders and samplers for the
influent and effluent, and disinfection. (Pet. 2—3). Macon,
which is currently in the Step 2 design phase of its construction
grant program, has anticipated that the requisite plans and
specifications will be completed in January of 1982 and that the
construction of the new plant will be finished by July of 1983.
(Pet. 3).
In October of 1981, the sudden death of its regular certified
operator, Mr. Paul Seagle, left the Petitioner without any certi-
fied operator for its plant. (Pet, 2). Mr. James Benson, who
was hired as Mr. Seagle’s assistant on June 15, 1981, is currently
operating the facility in a satisfactory manner, enrolled in an
operators’ course, and will soon be eligible to take the Class 4
operators’ certification examination. (Rec. 4—5 ; Pet. 2—4).
Once construction of Macon’s lagoon system is completed, both the
Board’s current regulations and the proposed revised rules on
certification of wastewater treatment plant operators would only
require the supervision of a Class 4 operator for the Petitioner’s
facilities. (Rec, 4). Denial of the requested variance would
necessitate the hiring of a Class 3 operator for 18 months until
the lagoons are completed and might also result in the forced
firing of Mr. Benson, since the Petitioner is on a very tight
budget and only has very limited funds. (Rec. 5; Pet. 4).
The Agency has recommended that the Board grant the
requested variance, subject to specified conditions. The Board
finds that denial of the variance would impose an arbitrary or
unreasonable hardship upon the Petitioner and will therefore grant
the variance, subject to the conditions which are delineated in
the Board’s Order.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
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ORDER
The Petitioner, the Macon Sanitary District, is hereby
granted a variance from Rule 1201 of Chapter 3: Water Pollii—
tion Control Regulations, subject to the following conditions:
1. The variance period shall extend until July 31, 1983;
however, if, prior to that date, Mr. James Benson either
(a) terminates his employment as operator in charge of
Petitioner’s wastewater treatment plant or (b) fails
to pass his Class 4 examination by July 1, 1982, the
variance shall terminate on such earlier date.
2. During the variance period, effluent from Petitioner’s
wastewater treatment plant shall not noticeably deterio-
rate from the present BOD5 and TSS discharge levels.
3. Petitioner shall operate and maintain its wastewater
treatment plant in the best practicable manner.
4. Within forty—five days of the date of this Order,
Petitioner shall execute and forward to the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Enforce-
ment 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:
CERTIFICATION
I, (We),
—,
having read
the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board in PCB 81—193,
dated _____________________________________, understand and accept
the said Order, realizing that such acceptance renders all terms
and conditions thereto binding and enforceable.
Petitioner
45—475
By: Authorized Agent
Title
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby cp~tifythat the aboVe Opinion and Order
were adopted on ~he
~j~’
day of~?
,
1982
by a vote of i/O
—_________
Christan
Illinois Polluti
Board
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