ILLINO:I POLLUTION

CONTROL BOARD

November 23,

1977

CITY OF CANTON,

Petitioner,

V.

)

PCB 77—234

ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent,

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE

BOARD

(by Mr. Young):

This matter comes before the Board on a variance petition

filed on September 14,

1977,

by the City o~fCanton seeking

relief from certain provisions of Chapter

III of the Water

Pollution Regulations

as applied to the effluent from the

City~sEast Side Sewage Treatment Plant.

Specifically,

variance is requested from Rule

203(c),

as that rule applies

to phosphorus, and from Rule 203(f)

insofar as that rule

applies to ammonia nitrogen.

On October 17,

1977,

the Agency

filed a Recommendation favorable to the grant of the variance

after imposition of certain conditions;

the City has waived

hearing in this matter.

The Petition alleges that the variance is necessary to

relieve the City from meeting the water quality standard

of l~5mg/l for ammonia nitrogen and 0.05 mg/l

for phosphorus.

From this the Board must assume that those standards are not

presently achieved either in Duck Creek, which receives the

plant effluent, or in an unnamed strip mine lake of approxi-

mately

11 acres which receives the flow from Duck Creek.

Rule

203(c)

provides

that phosphorus ~s P shall

not exceed

O~O5mg/i

in any stream at the point where the stream enters

any reservoir or

lake.

The effluent from current plant opera-

tion discharges phosphorus ranqing in concentration from

3 to

8 mg/i

(Pet.

1).

Rule

203(f)

requires that a 1.5 mq/l concentration of ammonia

nitrogen

(as

N)

shall not be exceeded in the waters of the State,

except

for certain exce?tions not applicable here.

The effluent

from current plant operation discharges ammonia nitrogen ranging

in concentrations

from

3 to

8 mg/l

(Pet.

1).

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273

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—2—

Rule

402

of

Chapter

3

requires

that

no

effluent

shall,

alone

or

in

combination

with

other

sources,

cause

a

violation

of

any

applicable

water

quality standard.

In those instances where

the

water

quality

standard for a particular constituant is

exceeded in a receiving body of water, any discharge

of that

constituent

to thai ~y

of water must meet the water quality

standard,

as

an

ef~1Li~nt limitation,

unless

a

variance

has

been granted pursuar~ttx

Title

9 of the Environmental Protection

Act.

The existing Ea~~Side Sewage Treatment Plant was improved

during 1974

to 1976 to include a new package contact stabiliza-

tion plant, new tt~,

$ettling lagoons, aerobic digestion

and sludge drying be4s c~pableof treating a design flow of

0.5 MGD with an influent BOD5 strength of 205 mg/l

(Pet.

1,

2).

These improvements ao

n~t

provide the capability to remove

ammonia nitrogen to a~concentrationof 1.5 mg/l or phosphorus

to 0.05 mg/l and the City of Canton has submitted

a plan of

study to the Agency ~

iaratory to a Step

1 grant to determine

the nature and extent ~of further plant modifications necessary

to meet existing stai~idards (Pet.

2).

Because regulatory changes

which may result in modification of both the ammonia nitrogen

(R77-6)

and phospho~u~(R76-l)

water quality standard or effluent

limitation are curr?ntly in hearing before the Board, the Peti-

tioner

(Pet.

3-5)

and the Agency

(Rec.

4)

submit that requiring

the Petitioner to meet the existing requirements during the

pendency of the regulatory proposals would constitute an arbitrary

and unreasonable hardship.

The Petitioner further submits

that

the City is presently financially incapable of financing the

additional

facilities required without grant assistance

(Pet.

3).

The Board has previously granted a number of petitions for

variances

in which re1~efwas sought from the requirement to

remove phosphorus to the 0.05 mg/l level finding that such

practice is technically, feasible but economically unreasonable.

City of Hoopeston,

PCB 76-234,

24 PCB 441; Southern Illinois

University at Edwardsville, PCB 77-111,

25 PCB 775; Valley Water

Company,

Inc., PC~7~—i46,25 PCB 289; y~i~9eof_Deland, PCB

77—193

(September 15,

1977); Village of Beecher

Cit_y, PCB 77—194

(September

15, l977).~ As in the cases cited,

the Board

finds

here that the Petitior~erwould suffer an arbitrary or unreasonable

hardship if required to meet the 0.05 mg/l phosphorus limitation

and will therefore grant the relief requested.

The Agency Recommendation at page

4 states that the Petitioner’s

facilities are not currently capable of consistently achieving

removal

of ammonia nitrogen to a concentration of 1.5 mg/l.

In

support of the regulatory proposal

(R77-6)

to modify the ammonia

nitrogen regulations, ihe Agency stated that they had found,

during the past seve~atyears,

no practical, environmentally

acceptable method forammonia

reduction which will assure con-

tinuous compliance

w1~h

the 1.5 mg/l ammonia nitrogen standard

(Pet.

3).

In view ~bf~the foregoing,

the Board will grant the

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274

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-‘-3—

i~C~reeua;ted fir’~nqthat to require the Petitioner

to

rate here whai, the ;\aency has undertaken

to demonstrate

~rort

their prono~~l ~or modificatioc o

the regulations

iid be unreason ~

~‘,

~n view of t’o regulatory proceeding.

C’

C;

minion constitutes

the Board’s

findincu; of fact and

ja’~oris

of law in this matter.

ORDER

1.

The City of Canton is granted a variance for its East

Saiaqe rrreatmeflt Plant from Rules

203(c)

and 402 of Chapter

‘:

Nater Pollution,

of the Board’s Rules

a~’d Regulations

re—

err uhosohorus until November

23,

1982,

subject fo the

‘-H

te”Hncj

conditions:

a)

This variance will earlier terminate upon

adoption by the Board of any modification

of

the existing phosphorus water quality

standards and effluent limitations and the

City shall comnly with such revised

ogula-

tions

on adootion hr the Board.

The City of Canton

is granted a van arce for its East

Fr-wage

‘Treatment Plant from Rules

20~(t)

aid 402 or Chapter

~-e~

Pollution, of the Board~sRules

and

Regulations re—

re i~-armenia nitro en until December

31,

978,

subject

to the

nq

conditions:

a)

This variance will earlier terminate upon

adoption hr th-~Board of any modification

o

the

existinq

ammonia

nitrogen

water

quality standards and effluent limitations

and the City shall comply with such revised

~-‘eoulationson adootion by the Board.

b)

In the event that grant

funds

bcco’:~

availahle

r

i II

(

‘1

‘11

I

Ii

I

‘~~-~i’

I

(

i

111/

h~,;I1t

,‘e

~‘‘~‘~I

1)11

O(

1”

W~

I

r;

‘V

1

5

1 Cli

I

(1

I

I

I

I

d

I

tIll

of equinment for the removal of

c’;’monia

nitro—

c;en which will orovide the

bosl’

piric4icahle

treatment technology for the removal

of

ammonia

nitrogen over the life of the

works.

c)

During the

nod

of this variance,

the City

shall operate the East Side Sewage Treatment

Plant

to achieve the minimum discharge of

ammonia

nitrogen

consistent

wi tb

the

cape—

bilities of the existing equipment and process.

28

—

275

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—4—

3.

Within

35 days

of

the date of this Order,

the Petitioner

shall

submit to the Manager,

Variance

Section,

Division

of

Water

Pollution Control,

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,

2200 Churchill

Road,

Springfield,

Illinois,

62706, an executed

Certification of Acceptance and Agreement to be bound to all

terms and conditions of this variance.

The form of said certi-

fication shall be as follows:

CERTIFICATION

I,

(We), ___________________________

having read

the Order of the Pollution Control Board

in

PCB 77-234,

understand and accept said Order,

realizind

that such

acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto

binding and enforceable.

SIGNED

TICLE

DATE

IT

IS SO ORDERED.

I, Chnistan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Con-

trol Board, ~ereby

certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted

on the ~

day of

______—,

1977

by

a vote of~5_~

Chnistan

L.

Moffett~~,içlerk

Illinois Pollution (9’b~itrolBoard

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276