ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March

 28, 1977

VILLAGE OF

 ST. PETER,

)

Petitioner,

)

 PCB 77-43

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

 (by Mr. Young):

This matter comes before the Board on the variance peti-

tion filed on February

4,

 1977,

 by the Village of St. Peter

seeking relief from Rules

 203(c),

 402,

 404(c) (iii)

 and 404

(f) (i)

 of the Water Pollution Regulations

 as regards phosphorus.

An Agency Recommendation favorable to the grant of the variance

was filed on March

 3, 1977.

The Board has previously dealt with many petitions in

which relief was sought from the requirement of meeting the

phosphorus water quality standard.

 Village of Argenta and

Village of Cerro Gordo, PCB 75—182,

 PCB 75-183,

 18 PCB 152;

Village of Strasburg,

 PCB 76-28; Old Ben Coal Company, PCB

76-21;

 City of Hoopeston,

 PCB 76-234.

 The Village is in the

process of consolidating and upgrading its existing sewage

treatment facilities.

 As in the cited cases, the Village is

seeking this variance to qualify for a lagoon exemption under

Rule 404 and to also qualify for Step

 II and Step III grant

funds.

 While the Village could qualify for both the exemption

 and grant

 funds by providing the required phosphorus removal,

the Village alleges that this requirement would impose an

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the Village.

The Agency submits that requiring phosphorus removal to

the 0.05 mg/i level

 is not both technically feasible and

economically reasonable

 (Rec.

3,

 par.

 10).

 Consistent with

this belief,

 the Agency has

 filed a Petition for Regulatory

Change

 CR76-i)

 with the Board which would amend the regulations

by requiring only point sources which have 1500 or more population

equivalent and which discharge into impoundments

 of greater than

twenty acres

 to treat the wastewater

 to a level not to exceed

1 mg/i prior

 to discharge.

 Because the Village’s expected waste

load is only

 500 population equivalent,

 the Village will not be

required to provide any phosphorus removal

 if the regulation

is adopted as proposed.

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235

—2—

As in the earlier cited cases,

 the Board finds here that

the Village would suffer an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship

if required to meet the 0.05 mg/i phosphorus water quality

standard and will therefore grant the requested relief.

This Opinion constitutes

 the Board’s findings of fact and

 conclusions of law in this matter.

ORDER

The Village of St. Peter is granted

 a variance for its

sewage treatment facilities from Rules 203(c),

 402,

 404(c) (iii)

and 404(f) (i) of Chapter

3:

 Water Pollution Control Regulations

as regards phosphorus until March

1,

 1982,

 subject to the

following conditions:

1.

 This variance will terminate upon adoption by the

Board of any modification of the existing phosphorus water

quality standards and effluent limitations and the Village

shall comply with such revised regulations when adopted by

the Board.

2.

 Within 35 days of the date of this Order, the Peti-

tioner 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 the variance.

 The form of said

certification shall be as

 follows:

CERTIFICATION

I,

 (We), ________________________

 having read

the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 77-43,

understand and accept said Order, realizing that such

acceptance renders all terms and conditions

 thereto

binding and enforceable.

SIGNED

TITLE

DATE

 SO ORDERED.

—

236

—3—

I, Christan L.

 Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were

adopted on the

~8~’

 day of

 1977 by a

voteof

~

Christan L. Moffe~

 Clerk

Illinois Pollutio

 ontrol Board

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237