ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL

BOARD

April

8,

1976

VILLAGE OF ADDISON,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 76-3

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY,

Respondent.

Mr. Hubert Loftus and Mr. Thomas

J.

Riggs, appeared on behalf of

Petitioner.

Mr. John T. Bernbom and Ms. Barbara J.

Revak,

appeared on behalf

of Respondent.

OPINION

AND

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr. Goodman):

This matter comes before the Board upon Petition of the Village

of Addison

(Addison)

for variance from Rule 962 of Chapter

3 Water

Pollution Regulations of the Illinois Pollution Control Board

(Regulations) filed on January

5,

1976.

Addison seeks this variance in order to connect the Kingery

West Subdivision by sanitary sewer line to the Addison South Waste-

water Treatment Plant which was placed on restricted status on

November 8,

1974, by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

(Agency).

The Subdivision

is located

in the flood plain of Salt

Creek on the east side and was annexed to Addison in 1974.

There

are a total of 107 lots in the Subdivision, seventy—five percent

of which are occupied by single family dwellings.

At present the

Subdivision is served by septic tanks and private wells.

When Salt

Creek reaches flood level,

the drinking wells within the Subdivision

are contaminated and the septic tanks become inoperative causing raw

wastes to discharge into roadside ditches.

Addision proposes to provide municipal treatment service to the

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Subdivision by extending

a sanitary sewer line from the Subdivision

to the Addison South Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Addison has already

been awarded

a State Grant to construct a sanitary sewer connection

to service the Subdivision, however,

by special condition of the

Grant, Addison must obtain a variance from Rule 962 Chapter

3 by April

15,

1976.

In addition, Addison is required to submit plans and speci-

fications to the Agency by March

1,

1976, and the sewer connection

must be operational by August 1977.

Addison alleges that failure to

allow this variance will result in termination of the State Grant

and, therefore, would cause Addison arbitrary and unreasonable hard-

ship.

In addition Addison points to the public health hazard now in

existence due to the use of septic systems

in the Subdivision.

On February

10,

1976,

the Agency filed their recommendation

essentially agreeing with Addison’s contentions and recommending that

the variance be granted with certain restrictions.

Hearing was held

in this matter on March

15, 1976,

at which evidence was presented

concerning the public health hazard caused by flooding of Salt

Creek with the resultant contamination of drinking water wells and

flooding of septic systems.

In addition to the testimony of

a number

of citizen witnesses concerning

the health problems

in the area in

which they reside,

the Chief Environmental Engineer for Du Page

County testified as to the periodic unsafe health conditions

in the

area including contaminated wells and malfunctioning septic systems.

This witness stated that the septic system should be replaced by a

municipal sewer and that, in his professional opinion, the municipal

treatment system was the only available alternative.

Although the evidence presented in the record indicates Addison’s

Sewage Treatment Plants are in

a hydraulically overloaded condition,

the Board agrees with the recommendation of the Agency that the

Village of Addison be granted variance from Rule

962 in order to

alleviate the health hazards which exist within the Subdivision.

The

Board will therefore grant variance to Addison so that the existing

homes

in the Subdivision may be connected to the Addison Sanitary

Treatment Plant, however the number of connections to be made will be

limited to the number of residences existing at the time of this

Order which are presently occupied,

and Addison will continue to

operate and maintain their Sewage Treatment Plant

in the most effi-

cient manner possible.

This Opinion constitutes the finding of fact and conclusion of

law of the Board

in this matter.

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ORDER

It

is the Order of the Pollution Control Board that:

The Village of Addison be granted a variance from Rule 962

of Chapter

3,

subject to the following conditions:

(a)

that the Village of Addison apply for and

obtain an Agency permit to construct and

operate the sanitary sewer to service the

Subdivision;

(b)

that connections to the proposed sanitary

sewer to service the Subdivision be limited

to those residences which are presently

occupied;

(c)

that the village of Addison operate and main-

tain the South Plant in such

a manner as to

achieve the best quality of effluent possible;

(d)

within 28 days

after the date of the Board Order

herein the Petitioner shall execute and forward

to the Manager, Variance Section, Division of

Water Pollution Control, Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency,

2200 Churchill

Road, Springfield,

Illinois,

62706 and to the Illinois Pollution

Control Board

a 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

(We),

having

read and fully

understanding the Order of thee Illinois

Pollution Control Board

in PCB 76-3 hereby accept said

Order and agree to be bound by all of the terms and condi-

tions thereof.

SIGNED____________________________

TITLE

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—4--

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above O~inionand Order were

adopted on the

day of

,

1976 by a

vote of ~

~

Illinois Pollution C

ol Board