ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

November

 23, 1977

CITY OF CANTON,

Petitioner,

)

 PCB 77—235

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

 (by Mr. Young):

On September

14,

 1977, the City of Canton filed a variance

petition seeking relief from the ammonia nitrogen requirements

of Rule 203(f)

 in Chapter III of the Water Pollution Regulations

as it applied to the effluent ~i:comthe City~sWest Side Sewage

Treatment Plant.

 On October

 17, 1977, the Agency filed a

Recommendation favorable to tte grant of the variance after

imposition of certain conditions;

 the City has waived the

right to hearing in this matter.

The Petition alleges that the variance

 is necessary to

relieve the West Side Plant from the ammonia nitrogen water

quality standard of 1.5 mg/l.

 Under current operating con-

ditions the STP discharges ammonia nitrogen in concentrations

ranging from

 3 to

 5 mg/l.

From this the Board must assume that this standard is not

presently achieved in the intermittent stream which receives

the plant effluent.

 Rule 203(f) provides that a 1,5 mg/i

concentration of ammonia nitrogen shall not be exceeded in

the waters of Illinois.

 Since the adoption of this

 rule,

the

Agency has investigated the environmental impact of ammonia

nitrogen discharges into low flow streams.

 The study con-

cluded that no fish kills or other environmental damage have

occurred in Illinois waters from ammonia concentrations

in

secondary treated wastewater discharges

 (Pet.

 p4).

Rule 402 of Chapter

 3 requires that no effluent shall, alone

or in combination with other sources, cause a violation of

any

applicable water quali~.ystandard.

 In those instances where

the water quality standard for a particular constituent is

exceeded in a receiving body of water,

 any discharge of that

constituent to that body of water must meet the water quality

standard,

as

 an effluent limitation, unless a variance has

been granted pursuant to Title

 9 of the Environmental Protection

Act.

—

277

ide Sew~qeTreatment Plant was recently improved

to an.ude

 w primary ciarifiers, aeration tank modifications,

re~ sccond~y clarifiers, new tertiary settlinq lagoons, sludge

dryine .~eds, aerobic digestion and a storm ~itcr

 lagoon

 (Pet.

p1).

 The plant is capable of t~eatinga desian flow of 2.7

MGD vath an influent BOD3 strenoth of 223 mg/i

 (Pet.

 p2).

Although these improvements do not provide

 the capacity to

renove ammonia nitrogen

 to a concentration of 1,5 mg/l,

the

Ci4y Las submitted

 a plan of study preparatory

 to a Step

1

grant to determine the nature and extent of further plant

modifications necessary to meet the existin~standards

 (Pet.

 p2).

In support of the Petition,

 the City cites

 ~e Agency’s regula-

tory proposal

 (R77-6)

 before the Board which may rr~”ltin

modification of the ammonia nitrogen standard

 (Pet.

p3,

4).

The Petitioner further submits that the City is presently in-

capable of financing the additional facilities required without

grant assistance

 (Pet.

 p3).

 In view of these considerations,

the City asserts that to impose the existing standard upon

Petitioner’s treatment plant would constitute an arbitrary and

unreasonable hardship.

The Agency agrees that Petilioner’s treatment facility is not

currently capable of consistently achieving removal of ammonia

nitrogen to a concentration of 1,5 mg/l.

 In support of the

requJatory proposal

 (R77-6)

 to iodify the ammonia nitrogen

regulations,

 the Agency stated that they had found, during

the on~tseveral years, no practical, environmentally acceptable

method for ammonia reduction which will assure continuous

compliance with the 1.5 mg/l ammonia nitrogen standard

 (Pet.

3).

In viaw of tue foregoing, the Board will grant the relief re—

 questec fivdLng that to require the Petitioner

 to demonstrate

here what the Agency has undertaken to demonstrate in support

of their prposal

 for modification of the regulations

 in R77-6

would ne unreasonable,

 in view of the regulatory proceeding.

This Opinion constitutes the Foard’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law in this matter,

ORDER

I

 The City of Canton is granted a variance for its West

Side S~wag?.Treatment Plant from Rules

 203(f)

 and 402 of Chapter

3:

 Water Pollution,

 of the Board’s Rules and Regulations

re-

garding ammonia nitrogen until December 31,

 1978, subject to the

following conditions:

a)

 This variance will earlier terminate upon

c~doptionby the Board of any modification

at

 the existing ammonia nitrogen water

~11ality standards and effluent limitations

~tnd the City shall comply with such revised

tegulations on adoption by the Board.

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278

—3—

b)

 In the evr ~t that grant funds bec

 available

during the period of this varianc~

 the City

shall incorporatc

 ~n any design a

 rpecifica—

tion a~dequateprov~s~innfor the i

 tallation

of equipment for tte

 removal of a~.ronianitro-

gen which will provLJ

 the best practicable

treatment technology tor the removal

 of ammonia

nitrogen over the life of the worts.

c)

 During the period of this variance,

 the City

shall operate the West Side Sewage Treatment

Plant to achieve

 the uinimum disct~rqe of

ammonia nitrogen consistent with

 ~o capa-

bilities of the existing equipment and pr~~cs.

2.

 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, Springfie

 Illinois,

 62706, an executed

Certification of Acceptance

 anh Lgreement to be bound to all

terms and conditions of this vr~iance.

 The form of said certi-

fication shall be as follows~

CEIII IFICATION

I,

 (We),

_________________

________

 having read

the Order of the Pollution Control Board ~n PCB 77-235,

understand and accept said Order, realizing that such

acceptance renders all terms and conditions

 thereto

binding and enforceable.

SIGNED

TITLE

DATE

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Christan

 L. ~Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Con-

trol Board~pherebycertify

 the, above Opinion and Order were adopted

on the ~3

 day of

_________________,

 1977 by a vote of

____

Christan L. Moff?i~,Clerk

Illinois Pollutib~-’ControlBoard

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279