ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
March 11,
1976
VILLAGE OF HECKER,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 75—479
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF
THE
BOARD
(by Mr. Young):
This case arises out of the variance petition filed
December 18,
1975 by the Village of Hecker seeking relief
from
the
chlorination requirements
of Rule 305 of Chapter
6:
Public Water Supply Rules and Regulations.
An Agency Recom-
mendation was filed with the Board on March
3,
1976.
No
hearing was held
in this matter.
The Village of Hecker, which
is located in Monroe County
with
a population of approximately 380 people,
owns and
operates a water supply system including five wells and a
distribution system.
The wells are bedrock wells and presently
discharge directly into the distribution system without treat-
ment.
Present water consumption equals 17,500 gallons per
day and the Village alleges that water samples
from the existing
supply have not indicated presence of contamination in the system.
The Village requests the variance until June
1,
1977,
at
which time
it
is anticipated that the Village will have joined
the proposed Freehurg-Smithton-Hecker
(FSH)
water commission,
which in turn will receive water from the existing Summerfield-
Lebanon—Mascoutah
(SLM) water commission.
It is anticipated
that the water
commission will supply
a finished water
to the
Village’s distribution system.
As
a consequence of joining
the
(FSH) water commission,
the existing five wells which
presently serve as
the source of supply for the Village will
be abandoned.
The Village estimates that it would cost approximately
$1,600
to $1,800
to presently achieve compliance.
The Village
submits that such an expenditure would impose an unnecessary
burden and hardship on the Village in light of the fact that
the operation of the
(FSH)
water commission
is relatively near.
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—2—
The Agency recommends the grant of this variance subject
to several limitations.
Contrary to the Village’s allegations,
the Agency’s records indicate that during the past two years
fourteen water samples from the supply have
shown evidence of
bacteriological
contamination.
However,
twelve of those
samples were from the pump house of well
#1 and the Agency
believes that contamination indicated may have resulted from
the water standing for a long period of time in the pressure
storage tank connected with well
#1.
In view of this,
the
Agency suggests that the following steps
be taken:
(a)
That within 20 days
from the date of the
Order herein the Village flush and disinfect the
pressure storage tank located at well
#1, and after
having placed the tank back into operation collect
and submit bacteriological
samples from the pump
house discharge on two successive days to be forwarded
to the Agency for bacteriological
analysis.
(b)
If no contaminaLion
is then indicated from
these samples,
that the Village submit bacteriological
samples for analysis from the pump house discharge
weekly for the next month.
(c)
If the succeeding weekly samples give no
indication of contamination,
the Village need not
take any further steps toward chlorinating of well
#1 and need only maintain normal maintenance and
bacteriological sampling procedures.
(d)
If either the samples taken immediately
after the disinfection of the tank or during the
weekly sampling program thereafter continue to show
contamination,
that within
20 days from the date that
continued contamination
is established,
the Village
disinfect the well source itself and submit samples
to the Agency for analysis
in the same manner as
outlined above.
If the succeeding
samples show no
evidence of contamination,
the Village need take
no additional steps toward chlorinating
the well
source.
(e)
If evidence of contamination still continues
to exist,
the Village must within
10 days decide
to
either abandon well
#1
as
a source of supply or imple-
ment continuous chlorination at that well source.
If
the Village decides
to implement continuous chlorination
at this point,
the installation must be accomplished
within
90 days of the time that decision is made.
If
it is decided
to abandon the well,
it
must be physically
disconnected
from the system within
10 days.
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—3—
In the absence of continuous chlorination at the supply
for the next eighteen months,
the Agency also recommends
that
the Village adopt an active cross—connection control program
to further assure that contamination external to the supply
will not inadvertently enter the system.
We are disposed
to grant relief.
The Village has demon-
strated hardship sufficient to obtain this variance.
Water
from the commission
is scheduled to be available in sixteen
months.
While there
is danger in not having its present
supply chlorinated,
the sampling program recommended by
the
Aqency should be adequate
to provide protection
to the public
in the meantime.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s
findings of fact
and conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
The Village of Hecker is granted variance from the chlori-
nation requirements of Rule 305 of Chapter
6:
Public Water
Supply Rules and Regulations until June
1,
1977 subject
to the
following conditions:
1.
The Village shall follow the water sampling program
as detailed in the Opinion.
2.
The Village shall adopt a cross-connection control
program and submit such program to the Agency for approval
within sixty days of the date of this Order.
3.
Within 21 days of the date of this Order, Village of
Hecker shall complete and send,
to the following address,
the
following certification:
Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Public plater Supplies
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield,
Illinois
62706
I,
(We),
____________________________
having
read the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board in PCB 75—479, understand and accept said Order,
realizing that such acceptance renders all terms and
conditions thereto binding and enforceable.
SIGNED
TITLE
DATE
20— 271
—4—
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were
adopted on the
Lt~
day of
_____________________,
1976
by a vote of
~
Christan
L.
Illinois Pollutio~~ntrolBoard
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