ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March 11, 1976

CLINTON SANITARY DISTRICT,

)

Petitioner,

V.

)

P03 75—498

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr. Young):

This matter comes before the Board on the variance peti-

tion filed December

23,

1975 by the Clinton Sanitary District

(District)

seeking relief from Rule 602(d) (3)

of the Board’s

Water Pollution Rules and Regulations

(Rules).

An Agency

Recommendation was

filed with the Board on January

23,

1976.

No hearing was held in this matter.

Rule 602(d) (3) establishes

a compliance date of December

31,

1975 for Rule 602(c), which requires

in part that all

combined sewer overflows and treatment plant bypasses shall

be given sufficient treatment to prevent pollution or

a

violation of applicable water quality standards.

The Clinton Sanitary District provides wastewater treat-

ment for an area which

is comprised primarily by the City of

Clinton, which has a population of 7,500.

The District owns

and operates

a sewage treatment plant and interceptor sewers,

on which are presently located six storm water overflows, one

of which

is at the plant while the other five are on the

interceptor sewers.

The overflow at the plant is being elimi-

nated by the construction of additional wastewater treatment

facilities.

The District’s treatment plant is

also being

upgraded

to increase its capacity to 4.9 MGD, an almost

threefold increase in plant capacity.

The five other combined

sewer overflows remain

a problem, however,

and the District

alleges

that it will cost $2,400,000

to bring the system into

compliance.

The District alleges that

it

is now bonded to the legal

limit in order

to finance the present plant improvements;

and absent a Section 46 Order of the Board the District

is

not able to raise more money.

North Shore Sanitary District

v.

Pollution Control Board,

302 NE

2d

50

(1973)

.

Thus,

the

20—287

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District alleges it cannot solve the overflow problem until

it receives

an IEPA and/or USEPA construction grant.

The

District applied for such funding on March 12,

1975, but

received a priority position of 768 on the priority grant

list.

The Agency has recognized the fact that many munici-

palities and sanitary districts

throughout the State have

not met and cannot presently meet the December 31,

1975

compliance date.

On December

31,

1975,

the Agency filed an

Amended Petition for Regulatory Change

(R75-15) with the

Board specifically requesting that the date for complying

with Rule 602(d) (3) be extended until July

1,

1977, provided

a grant application had been filed before December

31,

1975.

The Board has not taken final action on this proposal.

We are disposed to grant relief.

The District is

currently bonded to its normal legal limits to pay for other

treatment plant improvements.

It has applied for state and

federal grants in an effort

to solve the problem of combined

sewer overflows,

but many other projects will be funded be-

fore

the District’s project.

In view of these efforts, we

believe an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship would be

placed on the District by requiring the capital outlays

necessary for compliance without first allowing the District

to obtain assistance from existing grant programs,

and par-

ticularly so when the District would be precluded from any

reimbursement from grant funds

if they were

to proceed in

absence of

a grant award.

This Opinion constitutes

the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law in this matter.

ORDER

1.

The Clinton Sanitary District

is granted variance

from the compliance date for combined sewer overflows

as

established by Rule 602(d) (3)

of the Water Pollution Rules

and Regulations.

Such variance is qranted until July

1,

1977,

or such date as may be adopted by the Board in consideration

of the Agency Regulatory Proposal

(R75-l5), whichever

is later.

2.

The District is required during this period to main-

tain optimum operating efficiency and convey as much combined

sewer flow to its plant for treatment as

is possible.

3.

This variance will immediately terminate

if the Dis-

trict

is offered a grant during this period and the District

does not respond with appropriate action

to bring it into

compliance.

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—3—

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

jj’f’~

day of

/)‘)t4~~iJ~

,

1976

by a vote of ~p

Christan L. Moffe

lerk

Illinois Pollution

ntrol Board