ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    January
    8, 1976
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Complainant,
    V.
    )
    PCB 75—252
    VILLAGE OF
    HARMON,
    an Illinois
    municipal corporation,
    RespQndent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Dumelle):
    This matter comes before the Pollution Control Board
    (Board)
    on a Complaint filed by the Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency)
    on June
    25,
    1975 against Respondent Village of Harmon
    (Village),
    located in Lee County,~Illinois. On September 12,
    1975 the Village
    filed an “Admission of Facts” which admits all of the facts alleged
    in the Complaint which are necessary to support a finding of viola-
    tion by the Board.
    A hearing was held on September
    23,. 1975 at which
    no testimony or other evidence was given on the issue of whether the
    Village had violated Section .~l9of the EnvirOnmenta1~Protection Act
    (Act),
    Section 501 of An Act to Regulate th~Operating of a Public
    Water Supply
    (Public Water Supply Act)
    and.~Rules
    302,
    309,
    and
    310 of the Board’s Public Water Supply Regulations,
    as alleged in
    the three count complaint.
    The only evidence introduced at the
    hearing concerned factors of mitigation.
    In the “Admission of Facts” the Village has admitted to the
    following:
    A.
    Ownership and operation of a public water supply
    system including one deep weel,
    an elevated tank,
    and a distribution system.
    B.
    Failure to comply with Agency requests to submit
    water samples and operating reports.
    C.
    Failure to employ
    a certified operator.
    The Board therefore finds the Village to have violated
    Section
    19 of the Act, Section 501 of the Public Water Supply
    Act, and Rules
    302,
    309, and 310 of the Public Water Supply
    Regulations.
    The only remaining question concerns the remedy.
    At the hearing
    it was shown that the Village, with a population
    of approximately 250 persons has been under severe financial
    and man—power restraints.
    As the Agency stated regarding
    the Village’s efforts to correct its violations,
    “In this particular
    case,
    the Village has taken just about every step they probably can
    take to come into compliance...”
    (R.
    17).
    However,
    these violations
    19— 581
    —2—
    have created a very real risk to the health of the residents of
    the Village of Harmon.
    The Acts and Regulations violated were
    established to insure
    the maintenance of safe and adequate public
    water supplies.
    By
    its neglect, the Village has violated these
    standards and jeopardized the health and welfare of its.citizens.
    Even given a present good faith attempt to comply,
    a penalty
    in this, case will demonstrate to Harmon and other similar communities
    that Illinois law and the Board’s Regulations must be complied with
    every day, and not merely after the commencement of an enforcement
    action.
    The minimum penalty set for a violation of the Public Water
    Supply Act,
    Ill.
    Rev. Stat., Ch.
    111—1/2,
    §523
    (1973)
    ,
    is $100.
    Due to the present good faith effort to comply and the limited
    financial resources of the Village, the Board
    Ii~dsthe minimum
    penalty to be appropriate for the violations
    as alleged in the
    Complaint.
    This opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions
    of law.
    pRDER
    It
    is the Order of the Pollution Control Board that:
    1.
    Respondent Village of Harmon
    is found to have violated
    Section 19 of the Environmental Protection Acts Section 501 of the
    Public Water Supply Act, and Rules 302, 309,and 310 of the Board’s
    Public Water Supply Regulations.
    2.
    Respondent shall pay, as
    a penalty for these violations
    a penalty of $100,
    payment to be made by certified check or money
    order, within
    35 days of the date of this Order to:
    State of Illinois
    Environmental Protection Agency
    Fiscal Services Division
    2200 Churchill Road
    Springfield, Illinois
    62706
    3.
    Respondent shall cease and desist from the above stated
    violations.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Chriatan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted on the
    g4~.
    day of January,
    1976 by a vote of
    ~V-~
    —*
    Illinois Pollution
    rol Board
    19—582

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