ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

June

9

,

1977

CITY OF FARNEB CITV,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 77-71

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Resncndent,

OPINION AND ORDER OF

THE

BOARD

(by Mr.

Young):

This matter

comes

before the Board on the variance petition

filed on March

2,

1977,

by

the City of Farmer City seeking

variance

from

Rules

203(c)

and 402 of the Water Pollution Regu—

lations

as regards phosphorus.

On May 31,

1977, the Agency filed

an Amended Recommendation favorable

to the grant of the variance

and

on June

3,

1977,

the parties

jointly waived hearing in this

inat t

er

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.

In

this instance,

Petitioner seeks relief so that

it can proceed with its grant activities and the upgrading of

its existing sewage treatment plant.

While the City could qualify

for the grant assistance by providing the required phosphorus

removal, the City states that this requirement would impose

an

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the City.

Jdthouqh

the

Aqency

does

not specifically

so

state

in this

Recommendation,

on

many

prior occasions

the

Aqoncy

has

stated

that

requ

I

i nq

pliosplio

rus

remova

I

to

thu

0

.

85 mq/~

1eve 1

is

no

L

both

technically

feasible and economically reasonable.

Consistent with

this belief,

the Agency has filed a Petition for Regulatory Change

(R76-l) 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.

The Petitionervs proposed facility has

a design average

flow in excess of 1500 population equivalent and if the regulation

is adopted

as proposed the Petitioner would be required to treat

to

a level of

1 mg/l phosphorus.

25

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731

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—2—

As

,in the earlier cited cases,

the Board

finds here that

the Petitioner would suffer an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship

if required to meet the 0.05 mq/l phosphorus water quality standard

and will therefore grant the requested relief.

This variance will

be granted subject to the condition that Petitioner

shall comply

with the terms

of R76-1 or other modified phosphorus standards,

when and if adopted by the Board, or shall seek

a variance therefrom.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law in this matter.

ORDER

The Petitioner,

City of Farmer City,

is granted

a variance

for its sewage treatment plant from Rules

203(c)

and 402 of

Chapter

3:

‘Water Pollution Control Regulations as regards phos-

phorus until June

1,

1982, subject to the following conditions:

1.

The Petitioner’s plant shall be designed and constructed

to allow for the possible future installation of appropriate

phosphorus

removal facilities.

2.

This variance will terminate upon adoption by the Board

of any modification of the existing phosphorus water quality

standards or effluent limitations and the Petitioner shall comply

with such revised regulations when adopted by the Board, or shall

seek

a variance therefrom.

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 Certifica-

tion of Acceptance and agreement to be bound to all terms and con-

ditions 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—71,

understand and accept said Order, realizing that such

acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto

binding and enforceable.

SIGNED

TITLE

DATE

25

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132

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—3—

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I,

Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were

adopted on the

q~

day of

~

,

1977 by a vote

of,~p

Christan L. Moffe

Clerk

Illinois Pollutio

ontrol Board

25

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