ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

October 14,

1976

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION,

Petitioner,

)

 PCB 76—199

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

 (by Mr. Young):

This matter comes before the Board on the variance peti-

tion of the Department of Conservation filed July 28,

1976

seeking relief from Rules 203(c)

 402 and 404(f)

 of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution Rules and Regulations of the Pollution Control

Board as applied to phosphorus.

 An Agency Recommendation was

filed with the Board September

16,

 1976;

 no hearing was held

 this matter.

Petitioner

 proposes

 to construct

 a sewage treatment faci-

lity consisting of an Imhoff tank,

 a stabilization pond,

 a two

cell intermittent sand filter and chlorination facilities

at

its Argyle Lake State Park,

 The proposed facility

 is designed

for

 15 PE with a design average flow of 1550 GPD and will serve

the park~strailer sanitary waste dumping facility,

 shop and

equipment building,

 site manager’s residence and concession

building.

 The project will correct a deficiency in waste treat-

ment at the trailer dump station and residence which are presently

 utilizing leaching fields which are inoperative during certain

times of the year.

 Petitioner states that approximately six

persons will use the system daily and that the remaining flow

generated

by

self—contained

 camper units

 i s seasona

 1~ in volume.

The land surrounding Lake Argyle is mainly clay with low percola-

tion rates and therefore unsuited to land disposal.

Lake Argyle

is

 a 95,1 acre impoundment which

 is maintained

by the Department of Conservation as

 a sport fishing lake only;

it is not used as a public water supply;

 swimming

 is not allowed,

and the park

 is surrounded by crop land.

Rule 203(c) provides that phosphorus shall not exceed 0.05

mg/i

 in any stream at the point where ±tenters any reservoir or

lake.

 Petitioner’s proposed plant will discharge approximately

0.12 pounds of phosphorus per day to the lake.

 No water quality

data on Argyle Lake is available to the Agency and they are there-

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fore unable to predict what impact,

 if any,

 this additional load

will have on the lake.

 Petitioner submits that it will have no

detrimental effect upon the maintenance of the sport fishery

which

 is the purpose of the lake.

On January

5,

 1976 the Agency filed a Petition for Regu—

latory Change

 (R76-l) with the Board which would amend Chapter

3 regarding phosphorus and would expand the present 1.0 mg/l

phosphorus effluent limitation to all facilities having an un-

treated waste load of 1500 PE or more discharging into impound-

ments of greater than 20 acres.

 That Regulation is currently

in hearing before the Board.

 Eutrophication studies by both

the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the

Illinois State Water Survey indicate that the contribution of

point source dischargers to the total phosphorus problems of

lakes and reservoirs

 is small compared with the non—point source

contribution.

 Land run-off from farm land fertilized with phos-

phate base fertilizers accounts for the overwhelming majority

of the phosphorus loading in most lakes and reservoirs.

In the light of the foregoing,

 and the exceedingly small

phosphorus contribution of Petitioner~sdischarge to Lake Argyle,

the Board finds that Petitioner

 is entitled to a variance.

 Peti-

tioner also seeks

 a variance from Rules 402 and 404(f),

 Rule

402 provides,

 as does Rule 404(f) (ii) (A),

 that no effluent shall

alone or in combination with other sources cause a violation of

any applicable water quality standard~.

 Rule 404(f) (ii) (D) requires

in part that the operator file a project completion schedule for

 achieving compliance with applicable water quality standards

 (phos-

phorus).

 The Board finds that Petitioner

 is also entitled to

variance from Rules 203(c),

 402, 404(f) (ii) (A) and 404(f) (ii)(D)

as those Rules concern phosphorus.

The Agency raised some questions

 in their Recommendation

which we will comment upon here.

 First,

 the Agency indicates

that they interpret the petition to request a variance from the

BOD and SS limitations of Rule 404(f); we do not make that inter-

pretation but limit the relief granted solely to phosphorus

in

accordance with our discussion in the preceding paragraph.

Secondly, the Agency notes that the discharge at Argyle Lake State

Park has never been permitted by an NPDES permit issued by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency.

 There is no indi-

cation that there

 is an existing discharge requiring an NPDES per-

mit.

 Since NPDES permit applications are required to be filed 180

days prior to beginning of discharge,

 it would appear that there

is ample time for application since the facility is not scheduled

for operation until May 15,

 1977.

 Finally,

 the petition contains

the following statement:

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—3—

“As such it is

 a recognized fact that nutrients

such

 phosphorus are required for good fish

 management,

 and are sometimes added by Depart-

ment personnel.

 A letter to this ef~ct is

attached to this Detition.”

 (Emphasis added)

 fact the letter attached to the petition reads as follows:

~I talked with Ken Russell, Fishery Biologist

 charge of Lake Argyle,

 and he indicated

that this discharge would not present any problems

from a fisheries standpoint.

 In fact,

 he felt

that an increase

 in nutrients could benefit the

lake.”

The Agency

 is apparently concerned from their reading of the

foregoing that the Department

 is applying phosphorus to the waters

of

the

 State in violation of Chapter

 3; we do not reach the same

conclusion based on the letter attached to the petition.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law

 this matter.

ORDER

rIhe

Department

 of Conservation

 is granted a variance for

the operation of the Argyle Lake State Park treatment facility

from the phosphorus limitations of Rules 203(c),

 402,

 404(f) (ii)

(A)

and

 4O~(f) (ii) (D)

 of Chapter

3:

 Water Pollution Regulations

until

October

14,

 1981, subject to the following conditions:

 This variance will terminatE

ucon

 adoption by the Board

of

any

modification

 the existing pdosphorus water quality

standards and effluent limitations and the Department of Conserva-

tion shall comply with such revised regulations when adopted by

the Board.

2.

 Petitioner’s discharge

 from

the

 Argyle Lake State Park

treatment facility shall not exceed 1550 qdp based on

 a 30—day

average.

3.

 Within

 35 days of the date of this Order, 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 Certifi-

cation 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

(We),

____

 having read

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—4—

the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board in

PCB 76—199, understand and accept said Order, realizing

that such acceptance renders

 all terms and conditions

thereto binding and enforceable.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

SIGNED

TITLE

DATE

I,

 Christan

L.

 .Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Con-

trol Board, hereby ce

on the

/41”

day

~

 Opinion and Order were adopted

_______

________________

 1976 by a vote of~~

Illinois Pollution

 Board

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