ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August 14, 1975
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 74—431
CITY OF MOUNT OLIVE, a municipal
corporation,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Dumelle):
This enforcement action was filed November 19, 1974. A
four-count Complaint charges the City of Mount Olive with
numerous violations of the Environmental Protection Act,
Sanitary Water Board Regulations (SWB) and PCB Regulations,
Chapter 3 (Water Pollution Regulations).
The City of Mount Olive owns and operates two sewage
treatment plants known as the North and South plants. The
North Plant is located proximate to Sugar Creek which is
tributary to Cahokia Creek; Cahokia Creek is tributary to
the Mississippi River. The South plant is located proximate
to an unnamed branch of Silver Creek; Silver Creek is tributary
to the Kaskaskia River. The complaint charges that the
City has operated these plants so as to cause water pollution
in violation of Section 12(a) of the Environmemtal Protection
Act. In addition, the following regulations are alleged to
have been violated:
Count One: Violations of the old Rules and Regulations
of the Illinois Sanitary Water Board (SWB), with respect to
the North plant, specifically:
Regulation
Contaminant or Coverage
SWB-l4 1.03(a)
bottom deposits
1.03(b)
floating debris, oil, scum
1.03(c)
color, odor
1.07(1)
bottom deposits where water is
withdrawn for agricultural or
stock purposes
1.07(2)
floating debris, oil, scum where
water is withdrawn for agricultural
or stock purposes
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Regulation
Contaminant or Coverage
1.07(3)
color, odor where water is withdrawn
for agricultural or stock purposes
1,08—10(b) (1)
settleable solids
1.08—10(b) (2)
floating debris, oil, scum
1.08—10(b) (3)
color, odor
SWB-6 1.02(a), 1.03
failure to submit monthly reports
SWB-2 1.02, 5.01
failure to have a certified operator
SWB-l4 remained in effect from July 1, 1970 to April 15, 1972.
SWB-6 remained effective from April, 1971 until March, 1972.
SWB—2 was in effect until July 26, 1973. Specific dates of
violation were alleged.
Count Two: Violations of Section 12(a) of the Act and the
current PCB Water Regulations, with respect to the North plant.
Specific dates were alleged. Violations alleged are as follows:
203 (a)
,
402
general standards
203(f)
ammonia nitrogen (as N)
403
offensive discharges
404(a)
BOO5, suspended solids
405
fecal coliform
408(a)
mercury
501(a)
reporting requirements
601(a)
systems reliability
1201, 1202
failure to have a certified operaU~
Count Three: The Agency realleged the same violations of
Count One, except for Sections l.07(i)-(3), with respect to the
South treatment plant. Specific dates of violation were alleged.
Count Four: The Agency realleged the same violations of
Count Two, with respect to the South treatment plant. Specific
dates of violation were cited. All violations as referred to
by the Agency were alleged to be of a continuous nature.
STIPULATION OF FACTS
In lieu of testimony, the parties entered into a Stipulation
of Facts, filed with the Board on March 18, 1975. It consists
of four major parts. First, Mount Olive admits to having violated
the Act and Regulations as alleged in the Complaint. Second, it
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sets forth mitigating factors tending to show why the city
has been unable to achieve compliance with the appropriate
regulations. Third, it contains an agreement that a Mr.
Abraham Loudermilk would be called as a witness on behalf of
the Agency and would testify as to what improvements must be
made in the two sewage treatment plants, including an appropriate
time schedule for compliance. Finally, it sets out a compliance
program, and a time schedule and agrees to a a performance bond of
$5,000. No proposal for settlement was offered.
The mitigating factors cited in the Stipulation set forth
the city~s efforts to improve the treatment plants. In November,
1973 (prior to the filing of the complaint in this cause and
subsequent to a change in city administration) Mount Olive retai~ed
a different engineering firm and commenced on a program of
rehabilitation and improvement. Contracts were entered into to
completely clean out the South plant Imhoff Tank and to repair both
plants’ trickling filters. Plumbing was to be restored and
pumps at the North plant recircuited.
The stipulation next enumerates the difficulties incurred
in accomplishing these improvements. Wet weather delayed the
operation to pump the sludge until May, 1974. The contractor
then informed the city it had no place to dispose of the sludge.
A petition for variance filed on May 10, 1974 was dismissed without
prejudice as inadequate. PCB 74—183, 12 PCB 403 (May 23, 1974).
An application for a permit to spread sludge on city-owned land,
filed on May 31, 1975, ‘ilas granted on July 10, 1974. Meanwhile,
the city’s lessee had planted crops on the disposal site which
could not be harvested until October. As a result, pumping of
the Imhoff Tank was not completed until December 4, 1974.
A contract to repair the South plant Imhoff Tank was
approved on December 4, 1973. Repairs were completed January 10,
1975. An order to obtain parts to repair the trickling systems
was placed on April 8, 1974, with delivery by June 21, 1974.
After delivery on November 19, 1974, the plumbing contractor
indicated additional parts were necessary. The supplier, however,
had discontinued carrying the required additional parts. The
city located a new supplier on December 19, 1974, but felt its
quote of $7,988.95 for new trickling filter arms was too expensive.
The city then decided to fabricate the arms with PVC pipe, at
one—half the cost, and to order a new set of nozzles and fittings.
All repairs for the trickling filter distributor assembly were
finally completed by February 28, 1975.
Other progress enumerated by the stipulation includes:
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1. Order and receipt of flow measuring equipment for
reporting requirements;
2. Repair of South lift station’s control system (completed
July 17, 1974);
3. The Operator was granted a Cl~s 4 Operating License and he
is continuing his education for a higher classification;
4. The circuitry of the Yeoman’s Ejector pumps at the North
plant has been corrected;
5. The sludge drying beds are currently being used at both
plants, indicating that the imhoff and Spirahoff Tanks are on
a schedule of sludge removal. The repair of the outlets of some
of these beds awaits good weather;
6. A wier board, recommended by the Agency, has been installed
on the South plant intake structure;
7. General appearance has been improved. Painting and repairs
to a catwalk structure above the circular Imhoff at the North plant
awaits better weather. Installation of chlorination equipment
awaits completion of trickling filter repairs.
The Agency admits that the city appears to have taken
reasonable steps availaole to it to carry out the program
originally envisioned in November, 1973. The stipulation
further indicates that the city will be helpless to do much
more than complete this program without grant money for the
expansion of the treatment facilities and an overhaul of the
distribution system. Even after the present facilities are
brought up to design capacity, raw sewage will still pass
through the distribution system discharged at the bypass
points during periods of moderate to heavy rainfall because
of the limited capacity of the present plants, and the original
interconnection of storm sewers and sanitary sewers serving
the South plant.
The compliance program and time schedule set out in the
stipulation is too lengthy to include in full here. In
sum,
it provides that Mount Olive:
a. Obtain equipment to measure BOD and suspended solids;
b. Provide a Class III certified operator, or provide
the current operator with the training necessary to be
so certified within seven months;
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c. Institute within 30 days a program of protective
maintenace;
d. Undertake monitoring of effluent for BOD and
suspended solids;
e. Immediately eliminate the safety hazard on the
Spirahoff walkway at the North plant;
f. Continue to repair and refurbish the sludge
drying beds within six months.
g. Eliminate the rooted plants in the concrete wall
retaining the trickling filter media, and rehabilitate
the wall;
h. Repair influent channels to allow maximum flow within
six months;
i. Restore the trickling filter media to an operable
condition within two months.
On April 10, 1975 the Board rejected the above Stipulation as
inadequate in that it. failed to set forth the quantities of
contaminants discharged, the effect of the receiving waters, or
the City’s attempts to obtain a sewage treatment grant. The parties
filed a Supplemental Stipulation of Facts on July 1, 1975, addressing
these issues. It indicated that Mount Olive had received priority
positions of 228 and 251 for grant status. A step 1 grant can
be processed as soon as the plan of study
--
submitted March 14,
1975
--
is approved. There is a possibility of delay in that the
Facility Planning Area contains twelve governmental entities. The
Agency Planning Section is working with all communities in an
attempt to designate a lead agency.
The Supplemental Stipulation also contained effluent and
water quality data for dates ranging from September 28, 1971
through April 30, 1974. These data
--
too numerous to include in
this Opinion
--
confirm the allegations and Stipulation. Although
summaries of sampling data for one of the latest dates available,
April 9, 1974, show that proper levels were met for some para-
meters, all of the rules cited in the Complaint were exceeded in
at least some of the saraplings available. Violations were
particularly severe, in the case of both treatment plants, for
measurements of raw influent which was bypassing the plants. Also
of concern are the results of a sample taken July 25, 1972, which
shows mercury concentrations of 6.4 ppb and 0.8 ppb in the North
and South plant effluent, respectively. An Agency memorandum
attached to these data explains that at one time the trickling
filter rotary distribution center column seals were mercury.
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This mercury was evidently lost into the filter media as a result
of badly leaking seals.
In addition to the effluent data, results of biological
samples, taken April 29, 30, i97~,were provided. While both
strean-e tributary to the plants were balanced above the outfalls,
they were unbalanced and semi~-polluteddownstream. Observations
on April 9, 1974 indicated that both streams were gray, with
sludge deposits, fungi and tissue paper present.
PUBLIC HEARING
~.
public hearing on this matter was held on March 6, 1975.
The
City explained that it had no justification or excuse for the
violations, but that the stipulation was intended to show that
it had undertaken a program to cure the deficiencies well in
advance
of the enforcement proceeding (R. 6). The remainder
of the hearing was for the purpose of introducing an exhibit
summarizing the funds spent to date on the Mount Olive
sewer system. The Mayor of the City identified and explained
these expenses. The exhibit shows total expenditures, dating
back
to 1961,
of over $21,000, not including some equipment
not yet
delivered or paid for. This breaks down as follows:
FUND
DATE
AMOUNT
Sewer revenue system:
pre May, 1973
$
7,554.18
Sewer revenue system:
post May, 1973
6,689.38
Federal revenue
sharing:
post January, 1974
6,376.14
Improvement fund:
post October, 1973
480.86
Some of
these expenditures were undertaken previous to
July 1, 1970
--
the first date of
violation alleged in the Complaint,
and as such are relevant only in so far as they
indicate a
wi1i~.ngness to maintain the
municipality’s sewer system. More
importantly,
the majority of the expenditures
are
for the period
following the private engineering firm’s November, 1973 recommenda-
tion, yet prior to the filing of the instant complaint.
CIVIL PENALTY
On the basis of the Stipulation of Facts entered into
by the parties it is clear that violations of all the Rules
and Regulations as alleged in the Complaint occurred. There
remains the issue of how much of a civil penalty should be
assessed for these violations, The number, length, and
severity of violations that occurred were substantial. The
threat to public health resulting from the inadequate treatment
plant facilities was, and will remain, considerable until the
facilities are brought fully within compliance with the regulations.
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The Stipulation best sums up the way in which the treatment plants
were operated when it states that an inspection undertaken by
the City’s engineering firm in November, 1973, revealed evidence
of years of neglect at the existing facilities. At the public
hearing, Mount Olive admitted that there was no justification
or excuse for these violations. The fact that efforts were
subsequently undertaken to repair the plants, and that Mount
Olive is now willing to institute a compliance program and time
schedule, as set out in the Stipulation, indicate that technical
practicability and the economic reasonableness of reducing
discharges are not major barriers here. Furthermore, the Board
has consistently held that the social and economic value of an im-
properly operated sewage treatment plant are reduced and that
such plants are patently unsuited to any area. EPA v. Township
Public Utility, PCB 74-421 (July 10, 1975); EPA v. Wheaton Sanitary
District, PCB 74—351 (July 6, 1975).
On the other hand, Mount Olive has offered considerable
evidence by way of mitigation. The City administration seems
now to be committed to the upgrading of the treatment plants.
Action was taken to retain an engineering firm before the
Complaint in this matter was filed. Funds have been appropriated,
repairs have been implemented, steps have been taken to carry
Out a compliance plan, and grant money has been applied for.
In light of these considerations and our statutory obligations
under Section 33(c) of the Act, the Board finds that $300 is an
appropriate penalty for the violations found herein. This penalty
is assessed not as a punishment but rather as an aid to the enforce-
ment of the Act. In addition, we will require Mount Olive to
carry out expeditiously all of the steps of its compliance program,
as detailed in the Stipulation and summarized in this Opinion,
and to cooperate with the other governmental entities in its
Facility Planning Area so as to expedite its Step 1 treatment
plant grant.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law.
ORDER
1. The City of Mount Olive shall pay a penalty of $300 for
its violations of the Act, SWB rules and Water Regulations found
herein. Penalty payment by certified check or money order payable
to the State of Illinois shall be made to: Fiscal Services
Division, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, 2200 Churchill
Road, Springfield, Illinois 62706.
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2. The City of Mount Olive shall carry out expeditiously
all steps of its compliance program set forth in the Stipulation
of Facts. It shall further cooperate with other governmental
entities in its Facility Planning Area so as to expedite its
Step 1 treatment plant grant.
3. The City of Mount Olive shall provide a performance
bond in the amount of $5,000, in terms satisfactory to the Agency,
to be tendered to the Agency within thirty (30) days of the receipt
of this Order.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Boa~,d, hereby certify the above Opinion an~1Order were adopted on the
j44 ‘~
day of August, 1975 by a vote of
.,~ p
Christan L. Moffett/, erk
Illinois Pollution
rol Board
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