ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
February 19,
1976
CITY OF CHICAGO, DEPARTMENT OF
PUBLIC WORKS,
)
Petitioner,
)
v.
)
PCB 75—370
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Goodman):
This matter comes before the Board
(Board) upon petition by the
City of Chicago
(City)
for variance from Rule
6.02(c) (2)
of Chapter
3
Water Pollution Regulations of Illinois
(Regulations)
in order to
allow a construction of three new combined sewer outfalls into the
Chicago River
system.
On July
3,
1975, Petitioner filed applications with the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) requesting a construction
and operation permit for the following proposed outfalls structures:
(a)
Howard Street,
to be located on the west bank of the North Branch
of the Chicago River at Fargo Street,
Chicago, Illinois;
(b) Berwyn
Avenue, to be located on the west bank of the North Shore Channel at
Foster Avenue, Chicago, Illinois; and
(C)
Birchwood Avenue,
to be
located on the east bank of the North Shore Channel at Howard Street,
Skokie,
Illinois.
The Agency subsequently denied the permit appli-
cations citing Rule
602(c) and suggested that the City obtain a
variance from the Board.
The three proposed outfalls will serve as outlets of combined
sewer overflows into the named and waterways from the drainage areas
served.
All dry weather flows will be transported to the Metropolitan
Sanitary District of Greater Chicago
(MSD)
at the Northside Sewage
Treatment plant.
In addition, the Howard Street sewer will convey
minor storm rainfall to the plant.
Discharge into the waterway will
occur only during wet weather and will contain only combined sewage.
The existing hardship relates to the population served by the
existing combined sewers.
During heavy rain sewage backs up into
area basements until such time as the sewers are able to deliver the
sewage to the sewage system or to a waterway.
The proposed new sewer
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projects will divert excess flows from existing sewers and will convey
combined sewage flow to the waterway sooner thus reducing basement
flooding and minimizing personal property loss and potential health
hazards.
The problems involved with basement flooding are well known
including:
clean up problems; damage to operating equipment and
personal property; bacterial hazard to health; and the danger of elec—
t.rocution caused by inundated electrical appliances.
The area has
been subject to basement backups for at least twenty years.
The Agency, in recommending grant of the variance, points out
that the combined sewage overflow problems will be corrected by comple-
tion of the Tunnel and Reservoir Project.
The Berwyn and Birchwood
outfalls are in an area already funded under the Tunnel and Reservoir
Project, but the Howard Street sewer area has not yet been funded.
In any event,
it appears that the entire Tunnel and Reservoir Project
system will not likely be functional before
1985.
The degraded condition of both the North Shore Channel and the
North Branch of the Chicago River is well known to the Board.
This
degraded condition is due in large measure to the combined sewer over-
flow into these waterways.
As pointed out by the Agency in their
recommendation, degradation of Lake Michigan from these waterways is
controlled by their reverse flow and is considered minimal due to the
dilute nature of the discharge in the massive dilution in the lake
itself during the infrequent times when the flow is into the lake.
Rule 602(a)
prohibits the installation of new combined sewers
which may cause violations of the applicable effluent standards.
Rules 602(c)
provides that combined sewer overflow shall be given
sufficient treatment to prevent pollution.
Therefore the Agency may
not issue
a permit, herein, unless and until the Board grants variance
to allow the construction and operation of the subject sewer systems.
The Board
finds the hardship imposed upon the area residents
to
be arbitrary and unreasonable considering the limited environmental
consequences of relieving the sewer backup problem.
In reaching this
decision the Board has considered the following propositions:
(1)
The
excessive flows from the existing inadequate sewers are alrea~vflow-
ing into the waterways.
The new sewer project will intercept these
flows and will only convey it to the waterways sooner
thus
reducing
basement flooding and minimizing personal property and potential
health hazards.
(2) The three outfalls are to serve as temporary
outlets for storm water flows from the drainage areas they serve.
Long range solution of the problem is contained in the Tunnel and
Reservoir plan.
It would be unreasonable to demand that the City
prepare inline or on site storages for retention of combined flows
for such a temporary system.
(3) The three subject sewer systems will
become part of the Tunnel and Reservoir system when that plan is
completed.
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Based upon the foregoing,
the Board will grant the City of
Chicago’s Variance.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s finding of
fact and conclusion of law.
ORDER
It
is the Order of the Pollution Control Board that the City
of Chicago, Department of Public Works,
be and hereby is granted
variance from Rule 602(a)
and Rule 602(c) (2) of Chapter
3 Water
Pollution Regulations of Illinois to allow construction and operation
of three new combined sewer outfalls into the Chicago River system
as described herein.
This Variance
is granted until February 19,
1981, or until the outfalls can be incorporated into the Tunnel and
Reservoir system, whichever
first occurs.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
Mr.
Zeitlin abstains.
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board,
hereby certify
he
bove Opinion and Order were
adopted op the
(t~-
day of
,
1976 by a
vote of
‘4..o
~stan~1off~~
Illinois Pollution
trol Board
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