ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
February
5,
1981
~
COUNTY
HEALTH
DEPARTMENT,
et al.,
Petitioners,
v.
)
PCB
80—157
tfJ1INOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Respondent.
~P:tNIONAND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by
J.r).
Dumelle):
On August 25,
1980 the Tazewe.l
County Health Department
(Tazewell) requested variance from Rule 604B
(Sic)
of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution of the Board’s Rules and Regulations,
to allow
9
residences to connect to the Highview Estates Wastewater Plant
(HEWP) because the HEWP is on restricted status precluding
such
connections.
In response to a Board order
of September
4,
1980,
Tazewell filed an amended petition on October 17,
1980,
adding
the HEWP owner and the homeowners as Petitioners.
In response
to
another Board order of October 30,
1980, Tazewell again amended
its petition on November 17,
1980, to include the additional
information required under Procedural Rule 401. On December
22,
1980 the Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) filed a
recommendation to grant the variance subject to certain
conditions.
The Agency construed the amended petition as
requesting relief from Rule 962(a).
Since Rule 962(a)
is the
rule for which variance must be granted to allow the requested
relief, the Board will construe the variance petition
in the same
manner.
Hearing was waived and none was held.
Petitioners include
9 homeowners of lots 39—47 along the
eastern side of Daniel Parkway in the Highview Estates
Subdivision located approximately two miles east of the City of
Washington and one mile north of the City of East Peoria.
These
homeowners are presently served by individual septic systems
which allegedly suffer serious malfunctions due to a high water
table and the slow permeability of the soil
in the area.
This
has allegedly resulted in back—ups into these residences,
especially during periods of a high water table or heavy rain,
and has also caused surface ponding of improperly treated sewage
in the yards of these homes.
With pets and children playing
in
the area,
there could he a serious health threat.
The Agency recognizes the need
to
remedy this problem and
recommends that the variance be granted.
However,
it further
40—415
—2—
recommends that water conservation measures he required to
minimize any adverse environmental impact that may result from
the additional
loading on the HEWP.
The present treatment works consists of package extended
aeration plant,
a 1.18 acre polishing pond, and chlorination
facilities.
Discharge is
to an unnamed tributary o~Farm
Creek
which flows to the Illinois River.
The package plant is designed for an effluent flow from
128 lots
(45,000 gallons per day (gpd)) but it
is
:urrently
servicing 153
lots.
This
is
the
basis
for the res~ictedstatus
of the HEWP.
The polishing pond is designed to se~v~200
lots
and an additional package plan~:can be provided to ~cringplant
capacity to that level.
A compliance evaluation inspection was conducted by
the
Agency on November 12
and r~ecember
17,
1979.
Several viol~bions
were noted,
including green effluent with obvious turbidity,
unnatural green color in the receiving stream,
lack
of
fecal
coliform testing and lack of flow measurement equipment.
Of these violations only the green coloration (caused,
apparently, by algal growth) presents an environmental concern.
The Agency has not alleged,
and the Board cannot assume,
that
water conservation will improve the situation.
Therefore,
the
Board declines
to follow the Agency’s recommendation in this
regard.
The recommendation
is, however,
worth noting.
If all of
the
homes feeding into the HEWP were to install plastic water
dams
in
their toilets, the Agency alleges that as much as 3,000 gpd oF
water could be saved.
Thus, the Agency recommends that the
variance be conditioned upon the HEWP including
a notice with its
water bills that free plastic dams will be made available to
anyone requesting
them.
This may well serve as a useful tool in
attaining compliance and removing the HEWP from restricted
status
but is left to the utility’s judgment as to its use.
The Board notes that no complete compliance plan has been
submitted to the Board.
Plans were to have been submitted to th’
Agency by November 21,
1980,
hut
neither Tazewell nor the Agency
has alleged that that has been done. Such a plan is necessary
to
the granting of the variance.
In balancing the benefits of granting the variance
against the environmental harm,
the Board finds that the benefits
outweigh the harm of
a variance grant.
Further, the Board finds
that it
is an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship upon the
homeowner petitioners
to be forced to rely on malfunctioning
septic systems.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
40—416
—3—
ORDER
The Tazewell County Health Department, et al.
are hereby
granted a variance from Rule 962(a)
of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution,
subject
to the following conditions:
1.
This variance allows the connection of
lots 39—47
in the Highview Estates Subdivision to the Highview
Estates Wastewater Plant.
2.
Within 45 days of the date of this order,
the Highview
Estates Wastewater Plant shall submit
to the Agency an
acceptable plan for achieving compliance with the
Environmental Protection Act and the Board’s Rules :~~3
Regulations.
3.
Highview Estates Water Company,
Inc.,
shall operate the
T-lighview Wastewater Treatment Plant utilizing
the hest
practicable operation and maintenance practices.
4.
Within forty—five
(45) days of the date of this Order,
the Highview Estates Water Company,
Inc.
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 honn’~
!m~
all terms and conditions of this variance.
This
forty—five
(45) day period shall he stayed for any
period during which the matter is appealed.
The form
of the certification shall he as follows~
CERTIF ICATION
Highview Estates Water Company,
Inc. hereby accepts
and
agrees
to be bound by all terms and conditions
of the Order of
the Pollution Control Board in PCB 80—157,
dated February
5,
1981.
Petitioner
Signed
Title
Date
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
40—417
—4—
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
voteof
____.
Christan L. Moffett, Clerk
Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board
40—4 18