ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    August12,
    1976
    MT.
    VERNON
    ROD AND GUN CLUB,
    )
    )
    PETITIONER,
    )
    v.
    )
    PCB 76—152
    ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    RESPONDENT.
    OPINION
    AND
    ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Dr.
    Satchell):
    The Mt. Vernon Rod and Gun Club
    (Petitioner)
    filed a
    petition on May 17,
    1976 seeking a variance from Rule 203(h)
    of Chapter
    3: Water Pollution Rules and Regulations
    (Rules)
    to apply 40 gallons of the aquatic herbicide “Aquathol Plus”
    to Miller Lake, in Jefferson County.
    The Agency filed its
    recommendation on July
    30, 1976.
    No hearing
    was held in
    this
    matter.
    Petitioner,
    a recreational organization, owns and uses
    Miller Lake
    (Lake) which is also used as a backup reservoir
    for the City of Mt. Vernon.
    The Lake has an area of 131
    acres with an estimated volume of 520,000,000 gallons and
    is connected by a 16-inch siphon line to Lake Jaycee, about
    one and one half miles
    south, which has an estimated volume
    of 409,000,000 gallons and which, in turn,
    is connected, by
    a 12—inch pipe to the water treatment plant reservoir, which
    holds about 53,000,000 gallons and is located about five
    miles southwest of Lake Jaycee.
    Both lakes have spiliways
    discharging to Casey Fork Creek from which Mt. Vernon can
    pump water either to the primary reservoir or to the treat-
    ment plant’s mixing basin.
    (Agency Rec.
    2).
    The use of the herbicide is stated by the Petitioner
    to be part of the management plan to improve fishing in the
    Lake,
    and that,
    at the application rate, no chronic or acute
    effects on human or aquatic life after one to two days after
    application would occur.
    “Aquathol Plus”
    is
    a registered
    aquatic herbicide composed of the potassium salts of endotholl
    and silvex, which has been claimed to act in a synergistic
    way;
    thus, controlling pond weeds, which neither herbicide
    23
    —
    317
    —2—
    would control by itself.
    In the Institute
    (IIEQ) publi-
    cation, Doc. No.
    75-13,
    p. 38, the following is noted.
    “.
    .
    .The data available does not suggest such an effect,
    nor has such an effect been demonstrated by other investi-
    gators.
    This combination complex has merit for use in
    heterogenous aquatic plant populations where all the plants
    are not susceptible to either silvex or to endotholl.
    How-
    ever, one such aquatic plant combination common in Illinois,
    a sago pondweed-water milfoil complex, can be eliminated by
    the use of potassium endotholl
    .
    .
    The Agency, as advised by both the United States Environ-
    mental Protection Agency and the Illinois Natural History Survey,
    notes
    that Aquathol Plus carries on its label instructions
    the following precautions from the manufacturer:
    “Treated
    water may be used for swimming and recreational purposes
    after twenty-four hours.
    To avoid the possibility of injury
    to crops and contamination of water and food for man and
    animals, do not apply to water used for irrigation, agri-
    cultural spray, domestic water supply or for watering dairy
    animals or animals being finished for slaughter.”
    (Emphasis
    added).
    (Rec.
    3).
    Neither the Agency nor the Board is willing to make an
    exception from this blanket ban placed on the label by the
    manufacturer.
    The Agency suggests and the Board concurs
    that Petitioner explore the use of Aquathol-K and in the
    course of that exploration consult with the Illinois Natural
    History Survey at the University of Illinois, Champaign-
    Urbana.
    Based on the instructions provided by the manufacturer,
    and thus the USEPA, the Board shall deny
    Mt.
    Vernon Rod and
    Gun Club’s variance from Rule 203(h) of the Board’s Water
    Rules.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
    and conclusions of law.
    ORDER
    The Pollution Control Board hereby denies the variance
    requested by the Mt. Vernon Rod and Gun Club.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    23
    —318
    —3—
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board, hereby certify the above
    and Order were
    adopted on the
    /g+.
    day of
    ,
    1976 by a
    voteof~~~
    Christan
    L. Moffett,,~rk
    Illinois Pollution c~’rolBoard
    23—319

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