ILLINOIS
POLLUTION
CONTROL BOARD
April 22,
1976
CITY OF MT. VERNON,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB
76-41
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER
OF
THE BOARD
(by Mr. Goodman):
This matter comes before the Pollution Control Board
(Board)
upon the February
13,
1976, Petition of the City of Mt. Vernon,
(Mt.
Vernon)
for variance from Rule 962(a)
of the Water Regulations
and modification of condition six contained in the Board Order
in
City of Mt. Vernon v.
EPA,
PCB 74-489
(1975).
The Environmental
Protection Agency
(Agency)
filed
its
Recommendation on March 16,
1976.
No hearing was held.
In pertinent part, Rule
962 states:
The Agency shall not grant
any
permit required by
this Subpart B., .unless the applicant submits ade-
quate proof that the treatment works... (a) will be
constructed.
.
.
or operated so
as not to cause a vio-
lation of the Act or this Chapter, or has been granted
a variance....
Mt. Vernon seeks
a variance
in order to operate its Jefferson
County Sewage Treatment Plant
(STP)
based upon effluent limitations
of 10 mg/i BOD5,
12 mg/i suspended solids
(SS),
and 1.0 mg/l
phosphorus, rather than the
4/5
mg/l BOD/SS.
On November
3,
1975,
the Agency issued Mt. Vernon
a ~Pfeffer
Exemption”
for the STP
21 —261
—2—
allowing an effluent standard of 10/12 mg/i BOD/SS.
The exemption
was based upon effluent quality contained in Mt.
Vernon
v.
EPA,
PCB 74—489
(1975),
including
a 0.05 ppm phosphorus standard.
Petitioner’s STP operates with an average dry weather flow de-
sign capacity of
2.0 MGD.
The STP discharges into Casey Fork some
seven miles upstream from its influx to Rend Lake.
Agency sampling
of Petitioner’s discharge reflects
a range of
7 to 26 mg/i BOD and
ii to 46 mg/i SS.
However,
Mt. Vernon’s STP discharge monitoring
reports for their NPDES permit indicate a BOD range of 1.0 mg/i
to
9.2 mg/I and an average of 4.9 mg/i for the same period.
In the
case of the Agency figures, the Board is hesitant to rely upon
6
grab samples over as many months to give results suitable for the
determination of effluent limits.
On the other hand,
Mt. Vernon’s
results are so low as
to be incredible.
Condition
#6
in the Order
of PCB 74-489 requires Mt. Vernon to meet an average BOD of 4.2 mg/i
and SS of 22.3 mg/i.
based upon what was claimed to be prior per-
formance.
The Board finds
the record
to be devoid of any reasonable evi-
dence upon which
to set effluent limits for the short time remaining
before the startup of the new plant.
We shall nevertheless
set those
limits at 20 mg/i of BOD and
30 mg/i of SS as
a reasonable effluent
for this type STP,
especially considering the short duration until
the new STP comes on
line.
Mt.
Vernon
is in the process
of upgrading its STP to
a tertiary
system consisting of primary clarification with chemical
feed
facilities,
high rate trickling filters, aerated lagoon,
secondary
clarification with chemical
feed,
tertiary filters and chlorination.
Mt. Vernon had expected to achieve
a phosphorus effluent limitation
of 0.05
ppm.
However, Petitioner
contends that the 0.05 mg/i phos-
phorus limitation
is not technologically
feasible.
The Agency does
not deny the lack of technology and states that there
is pending
before this Board a regulatory proposal which would place
a 1.0 mg/l
phosphorus limitation upon a STP such as Mt. Vernon.
Further evidence of an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship is
shown by the fact that Mt. Vernon was conditionally certified for
Federal Step
3 construction funds
for its STP.
One of the conditions
of
the grant
is that Mt.
Vernon obtain a construction permit from
the Agency.
However, without the instant variance,
the Agency may
not issue
a construction permit.
According to the U.S. EPA National Eutrophication Survey,
Report.
On Rend Lake,
June,
1975,
Mt. Vernon contributes
19.9
to Rend Lake~
21 —262
—3—
overall phosphorus load.
The present loading rate is 0.97 g/m3/yr
(over 2
•
5 times
that
proposed by Vollenweider as a eutrophic rate).
Even 100
reduction in known point source effluent would not reduce
the
loading rate to
below
twice the eutrophic rate.
Currently Mt. Vernon discharges approximately 108.6 lb/day phos-
phorus
based
upon an average discharge of 1.6 MGD with a phosphorus
concentration of 8.1 mg/l.
If the grant is received
and
construction
completed, Petitioner would discharge 3.8
MGD
with a phosphorus con-
centration of 1.0 mg/i or 31.7 lb/day.
The Board finds
that
a variance is appropriate with the condition
that
should technology
become
available
to
reduce
the
phosphorus
concentration
to
0.05 mg/l then Mt. Vernon shall take appropriate
action to implement said technology.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and conclu-
sions of law in this matter.
ORDER
It
is
the
Order
of
the
Board
that:
1)
Mt.
Vernon
be granted variance from Rule 962(a)
of
Chapter
Three
of
the
Water
Regulations
with
respect
to
BOD5,
Suspended Solids, and phosphorus provided that Mt. Vernon’s
STP when modified not exceed effluent concentrations of 10
mg/l BOD5
and
12.0
mg/l
SS
and
1.0
mg/l
phosphorus.
2.
Should
technology
become
available
to
reduce
phosphorus
concentrations
in
Petitioner’s
effluent
to
0.05
mg/l,
Mt.
Vernon
shall
implement
said
technology
as
soon
as
practicably
possible.
Petitioner’s
construction
plans
shall
provide
for
such
an
eventuality.
3.
Condition #6 contained in the Order of
PcB
74-489
is modified as follows:
6)
Effluent limits
(on a monthly average) shall
not
exceed:
Average
BOD
20
mg/l
Suspended Solids
30
mg/l
Annonia
Nitrogen
5.4
mg/l
Phosphorus
8.1
mg/l
21a’-2S3
—4—
4.
Within
28 days of the adoption of this Order,
the Petitioner shall execute and forward to both the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
2200 Churchill
Road, Springfield,
Illinois 62706 and the Pollution Control
Board
a Certification of Acceptance and agreement to be
bound to all terms and conditions of this Opinion and Order.
The form of said certification shall be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I
(We), _______________________________having
read and
fully understanding the Order of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board
in PCB 76-41 hereby accept said Order and
agree to be bound by all of the terms and conditions
thereof.
Mr. Young abstained
Signed
Title
Date
I, Christan L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted on
the
day of
,
1976 by a vote of
4.~..cj
Illinois Pollution
.trol Board
21—264