ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL
    EOARD
    October 19,
    1978
    ILLINOIS
    ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    )
    Complainant,
    v.
    )
    PCB 78—83
    )
    JERSEY
    COUNTY
    RURAL
    )
    WATER
    COMPANY,
    INC.,
    )
    an Illinois corporation,
    )
    Respondent.
    MR.
    REED
    W. NEUMAN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON BEHALF
    OF THE
    COMPLAINANT.
    SUDDES, DAVIS
    & WITTMAN, ATTORNEYS AT
    LAW
    (MR. GEORGE P.
    WITTMAN,
    OF COUNSEL), APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT.
    OPINION
    AND
    ORDER OF THE
    BOARD
    (by Mr. Werner):
    This matter comes before the Board on the March 20,
    1978
    Complaint brought by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    (“Agency”)
    alleging that the Respondent, Jersey County Rural Water
    Company,
    Inc.,
    owned a public water supply system which was
    operated from March 1,
    1976
    until
    March 20,
    1978 with no certified
    water supply operator in violation of Section
    1 of an Act to
    Regulate the Operating of a Public Water Supply,
    Ill.
    Rev.
    Stat.
    1975,
    ch. 111—1/2,
    par.
    501.
    A hearing was held on July 14,
    1978.
    At the hearing, the parties read a stipulated set of facts
    into the record.
    The stipulated facts indicate that the Respondent
    owns and operates a public water supply facility in Jersey County,
    Illinois which serves approximately 1,460 households.
    (R.3,
    R.6).
    This facility Consists of
    2 booster pumps,
    3 elevated storage tanks
    and a distribution system.
    (R.
    3).
    The public water supply system
    receives pre—treated water by means of a transmission main from the
    Alton Water Company.
    Thus,
    the facility employs no chemical
    treatment for its water.
    (R.
    5).
    It is stipulated that from March 1, 1976 until May 8,
    1978,
    the Respondent did not employ a certified Class A,
    Class B,
    Class
    C,
    or Class
    D water supply operator as
    is required by
    —2—
    Section 1(d) of an Act to Regulate
    the
    Operating of a Public
    Water Supply,
    Ill.
    Rev.
    Stat.
    1975,
    ch. 111—1/2, par.
    501(d).
    (R.
    5).
    However, on May 8,
    1978,
    the Respondent hired Mr. Jack
    Shafer as operator for its public water supply system.
    (R.
    5).
    Mr. ,Shafer has been an employee of the Jerseyville Water and
    Sewer Department for a number of years and currently holds
    a
    Class A Certificate issued by the Agency.
    (R.
    5—6).
    He presently
    has no fixed term of employment and “he is required to work as
    many hours
    as the water company may require.”
    (R.
    5).
    Mr. Shafer
    is currently paid a salary of $50.00
    a month for his services.
    (R.
    5).
    No one else has been employed as
    a Water Supply Operator
    in the two years prior to the filing of the Complaint in this
    matter.
    (R.
    6).
    On May 18,
    1978,
    the Agency sent notification to
    the Jersey County Rural Water Company,
    Inc. signifying that,
    because of the hiring of Mr. Jack Shafer and notification to the
    Agency of his hiring and qualifications,
    the water company had,
    as
    of that date, been placed in compliance with the Public Water
    Supply Act.
    (R.
    8; Joint Exhibit B).
    The stipulated background facts also indicate that, on April
    1,
    1977,
    the Agency sent a Notice of Violation to the Respondent
    pertaining to the lack of a properly certified water supply
    operator.
    (R.
    7-8.; Joint Exhibit A).
    After receiving that notice
    of violation, Mr. Larry Davis
    (an employee of the water company)
    contacted the Agency in Springfield and asked them to send him a
    list of dates
    on which he could take the appropriate exam.
    (R.
    7).
    Mr.
    Davis eventually received the list during the summer of 1977,
    after he called the Agency back and requested the information
    again.
    (R.
    7).
    Larry Davis then attempted to pass the Water
    Supply Operators’ certification examination in November of 1977,
    but failed the exam by
    2 points.
    In March,
    1978,
    Mr.
    Davis
    took
    the certification examination again and failed it by
    7 points.
    CR.
    6).
    After taking the test the second time,
    Mr.
    Davis attended
    classes on public water supply operation at Southern Illinois
    University at Edwardsville.
    Mr. Davis then took the certification
    exam again in June,
    1978 and passed the test.
    He was issued a
    Class D Water Supply Operator’s Certificate the last week of
    June,
    1978.
    CR.
    6; Joint Exhibit C).
    At the hearing,
    the Respondent’s attorney asked the Board to
    “take into consideration that the Jersey County Rural Water
    Company is a new company, has been in operation for a very short
    period,
    has had a lot of difficulties in constructing the system,
    and while the initial construction was going on, additional plans
    were being made for extensions and
    ...
    during all that time had
    one employee,
    Mr. Davis, and that it’s easy to overlook or not get
    things done that should be done or need to be done...”
    CR.
    10).
    31—66~
    —3—
    The Respondent’s attorney stated that,
    in his opinion,
    “the
    record does show that when notified Mr.
    Davis did attempt and
    continued to attempt, even before the Complaint was filed,
    to get
    into compliance” and noted that “we also regret we were not
    certified prior to the time the Complaint was filed.”
    (R.
    10-11).
    The Assistant Attorney General stated that “the Agency commends
    the fact that Respondent has, since the filing of that Complaint,
    gone out and hired Mr. Shafer, who is a properly certified Class A
    Operator, and also has encouraged and helped Mr. Davis to obtain
    the proper certification for the job; and it is assumed that from
    this point on the Respondent will remain in compliance with the
    Act.”
    CR.
    9).
    At the hearing,
    the Assistant Attorney General
    also indicated that “in light of the cooperation that Respondent
    has given the Agency up to this point,” the Agency recommends that
    any penalty imposed by the Board should be “minimal.”
    (R.
    10).
    In evaluating this enforcement action,
    the Board has taken
    into consideration all the facts and circumstances in light of the
    specific criteria delineated in Section 33(c)
    of the Illinois
    Environmental Protection Act.
    Incinerator,
    Inc.
    V.
    Illinois
    Pollution Control Board,
    59
    Ill.
    2d 290, 319 N.E.
    2d 794
    (1974)
    On the basis
    of the record, the Board finds that the Jersey County
    Rural Water Company,
    Inc. operated its public water supply system
    without a properly certified operator from March 1,
    1976 until
    March 20,
    1978 in violation of Section
    1 of an Act to Regulate the
    Operating of a Public Water Supply,
    Ill. Rev.
    Stat.
    1975,
    ch.
    111—1/2, par.
    501.
    Consequently,
    a penalty of $100.00 is assessed
    in accordance with Section 1 of an Act to Regulate the Operating
    of
    a Public Water Supply.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
    conclusions of law in this matter.
    ORDER
    It is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board that:
    1.
    The Jersey County Rural Water Company,
    Inc. has violated
    Section
    1 of an Act to Regulate the Operating of a Public Water
    Supply
    (Ill.
    Rev.
    Stat.,
    1975,
    ch.
    111—1/2, par.
    501)
    from
    March
    1,
    1976 until March 20,
    1978.
    2.
    The Jersey County Rural Water Company,
    Inc. shall cease
    and desist from all further violations of Section
    1 of an Act to
    Regulate the Operating of a Public Water Supply
    (Ill.
    Rev.
    Stat.,
    1975,
    ch.
    111—1/2,
    par.
    501).
    —4—
    3.
    Within 35 days of the date of this Order,
    the Jersey
    County Rura1~WaterCompany,
    Inc. shall pay a penalty of $100.00
    payment to be made by certified check or money order to:
    State of Illinois
    Fiscal Services Division
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    2200 Churchill Road
    Springfield, Illinois
    62706
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board,
    hereby certify the
    b ye Opinion and Order were
    adopted on the
    /f~’
    day of
    _______________,
    1978 by a
    vote of
    4-p
    ~
    Christan L. Moffe
    Clerk
    Illinois Pollutio
    ntrol Board

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