ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOA1W

March

25, 1976

WILCO AREA CAREER CENTER,

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 75—173

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr.

Zeitlin):

This matter

is before the Board on a Petition for Variance

filed April

25,

1975, by the WILCO Area Career Center

(WILCO),

a Will County,

Illinois municipal educational corporation, and

amendments or other documents pertaining thereto filed on

June 17,

1975,

October

2,

1975,

and January 16,

1976.

No hearing

was held in this matter.

A Recommendation

was

received from the

Environmental Protection Agency

(Agency)

on July 14,

1975.

WILCO was formed by five Will County school districts to

consolidate and improve the trade and occupational education

offered by those districts.

WILCO has purchased a 20—acre site

from Lewis University,

adjacent to the University’s Will County

campus.

The facility planned for that site has been under

construction for some time, and is now 85 per cent complete.

Initial occupancy is expected within two months, and classes are

scheduled to commence on July 12,

1976.

Total expenditures for

the facility will amount to $4,500,000,

to be financed largely

by the Illinois Capital Improvement Board.

(See January 16,

1976

Amended Petition.)

The original Petition in this matter, and all its amendments,

seek permission for the new WILCO center to connect its sanitary

sewers to the Lewis University sewage treatment plant,

located on

property adjacent to the new center’s site.

Petitioner estimates

that the WILCO center will generate approximately

600

gallons of

effluent each school day,

or 3,000 gallons per week.

20—

325

---

—2—

This estimate

is based on a total student population of 900

students, composed of three 300—student

shifts, each of which will

be present in the school for two and a half hours daily.

The school

will have no kitchen or shower facilities.

WILCO needs a variance

from Rule 962 of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution,

of the Board’s Rules

and Regulations in order to connect the new facility to the Lewis

University sewage treatment plant,

because that sewage treatment

plant does not currently meet the applicable effluent regulations

under Rule

404(f) of Chapter

3.

WILCO’s inaccurate request for Variance from Section 12(a)

of

the Environmental Protection Act and Rule 404(f)

of Chapter

3

is

noted

in the Agency’s Recommendation;

we shall,

as is

suggested

in

the Agency Recommendation,

interpret WILCO’s request as being for

a

variance from the applicable provision

--

Rule 962.

We concur with the Agency’s Recommendation,

and find that

a

denial of this variance would indeed work a considerable hardship on

Petitioner.

The Petition, and its various supplements, do show

adequately that the center will provide

a necessary supplement to

the education provided by the five concerned school districts.

In

addition, the expenditures to date by those districts, and by the

Capital Improvement Board, have been considerable.

In deciding to grant this variance, we have weighed that hard-

ship against the likelihood of environmental damage.

We take note

of our decision today in Lewis University

v.

EPA, PCB 75-504, and

find that the likelihood of environmental damage from a connection

to the Lewis University sewage treatment system would be minimal.

The compliance plan in PCB 75-504

(connection to the Village of

Romeoville’s sewage treatment plant) will provide an adequate com-

pliance plan in this case as well:

by the end of 1976,

WILCO’s

wastes will be routed through Lewis University to the Village of

Romeoville’s sewage treatment plant.

Weighing the hardship to the school districts involved, and

to the students served by those districts,

if the Variance were not

granted, against the likelihood of environmental damage likely to

occur if it is granted, we find that the grant of a Variance is

warranted here.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions

of law of the Board in this matter.

20 —326

---

—3—

ORDER

IT IS THE ORDER OF THE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD that Petitioner

WILCO Area Career Center be granted a Variance from Rule 962

of

Chapter

3: Water Pollution,

of the Pollution Control Board Rules

and Regulations,

to allow a sanitary sewage connection to the sewage

treatment plant operated by Lewis University.

Mr. James Young abstained.

I, Christan L. Moffett,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were

adopted on the

~S~’

day of

_________,

1976, by a vote of

~3—tj~

C ristan

L. Mo Let

,

rk

Illinois Pollution

rol Board