ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

June 18,

1976

VILLAGE OF TOWER HILL,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 76—101

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr. Young):

This matter comes before the Board on the petition of the

Village of Tower Hill filed April

14,

1976 seeking variance from

Rules

203(c)

and 402 of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution Rules and

Regulations as regards phosphorus.

On May 19,

1976,

the Agency

filed a Recommendation in this matter; no hearing was held.

The Village of Tower Hill is located in Shelby County and

has a population of 683 people.

At the present time the Village

has no collection system or municipal sewage treatment facilities.

Sewage treatment currently consists of individual septic tanks

and tile fields.

The Village

is presently awaiting Agency approval

of its Step

I Facilities Plan for the construction of a sanitary

sewage system and waste treatment facilities.

The proposed treatment facilities are designed to receive

an average flow of

.08 MGD and consist of a three—cell lagoon

with diffused aeration,

submerged sand filter, and chlorination.

The discharge from the proposed facility will he tributary to

Mitchell Creek,

a tributary of the Kaskaskia River which is tribu-

tary to the Carlyle Reservoir.

Rule 203(c)

sets

a standard of 0.05 mg/i for phosphorus as

P

in any reservoir or lake, or in any stream

at

the point

where

it

enters any reservoir or lake and

Rule

402 requires that

the

Village’s effluent not contribute to a violation

of

the Rule

203

(c) water quality standard.

The phosphorus concentrat:Lon

in the

Kaskaskia River as it enters the Carlyle Reservoir presently ex~-

ceeds

.05 mg/i;

therefore,

the Villag&s effluent

is water quality

limited to the Rule 203(c)

standard of .05 mg/i phosphorus.

If

the Village’s proposed treatment facility does not meet

the

.05

mg/l standard of Rule 203(c),

the Agency cannot issue a constructio~

permit unless the Village first obtains a variance from the Board.

22—181

---

—2—

In order to meet the 203(c)

standard, the Village would

have to install phosphorus removal facilities estimated to

cost $118,000.00 with a yearly maintenance cost of $2,500.00.

The Village has also considered two other alternatives to

phosphorus removal.

Under one alternative the feasibility of

discharging the effluent in the adjacent Sangamon Watershed

was studied.

Approximately

8 miles of force main would be re-

quired for this alternative with the project estimated to cost

nearly $450,000.00.

The other alternative considered is the

disposal of the effluent on land through an irrigation system.

This alternative is estimated to cost $205,000.00 with annual

operating costs estimated to be nearly $13,000.00.

The

Village

alleges that an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship would be

placed on the Village if it were required to use any of these

methods to control their phosphorus discharge and, therefore,

seeks this variance so that the proposed treatment plant can be

installed with the help of State/Federal grant funds.

The Agency submits that the average phosphorus concentra-

tion of normal domestic sewage is approximately 10 mg/i; there-

fore the Village’s proposed facility will discharge approximately

6.7 lbs/day phosphorus.

In the USEPA National Eutrophication

Survey Report on Carlyle Reservoir an annual total phosphorus

loading of 698,050

lbs/year to Carlyle Reservoir is estimated.

Based on this data,

the Village’s proposed treatment plant would

result in only a 0.34

increase in phosphorus loading.

On January

5,

1976,

the Agency filed a Petition for Regula-

tory Change

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

tions by requiring only point sources who have 1500 or more

population equivalent to treat wastewater to a level not to ex-

ceed

1 mg/i phosphorus prior

to discharge.

As justification for

this proposal the Agency submits that eutrophication studies by

both the tJSEPA and the Illinois State Water Survey show that the

contribution of point source dischargers to the total phosphorus

problem of lakes and reservoirs is small compared to the non-point

source contribution.

The Agency submits that non-point sources,

such as run—off waters

from farm lands fertilized with phosphate

base fertilizers, account for the overwhelming majority of the

phosphorus loading of most lakes and reservoirs.

The Village alleges that they will suffer an unreasonable

hardship if the Board denies this variance request,

a denial

which would prevent the Village from utilizing State/Federal

grant funds

to assist in the construction of a much needed sewage

treatment plant.

In light of aforesaid studies and the small

contribution that the Village’s discharge will make to the Carly~e

Lake phosphate problem,

the Board is disposed to grant the relief

requested.

The Board will require, however, that the Village

design and construct the sewage treatment plant to allow for the

possible future installation of appropriate phosphorus removal

facilities.

22—182

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—3—

This

Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law in this matter.

ORDER

The Village of Tower Hill is granted a variance from

the

phosphorus limitations of Rules 203(c)

and 402 of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution Regulations until June 1, 1981,

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 of Tower Hil.

shall comply with such revised regulations when adopted by the

Board.

2.

The sewage treatment plant shall be designed and con-

structed to allow for the possible future installation of appro-

priate phosphorus removal facilities, and

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 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 76-101,

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

hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted

on~the

j~

day of

—

,

1976 by a vote of

_______.

ris an

L. Mo.fett,

k

Illinois Pollution C

ol Board