ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April
10,
1975
McNAUGHTON
PARK
POND
(Pekin Park District),
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 75-52
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
CALVIN BUTTERFIELD POND
(Pekin Park District)
Petitioner,
V.
)
PCB 75-53
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
(CONSOLIDATED)
Respondent.
OPINION
AND
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Dr.
Odell)
On February 4,
1975,
the Pekin Park District (District)
filed Petition For Variance with the Illinois Pollution Control
Board
(Board).
Petitioner sought a variance from Rule 203 (h)
of the Water Pollution Regulations
(Chapter Three) which provides:
“any substance toxic to aquatic life
shall not exceed one—tenth
of the 48-hour median tolerance limit
(48-hr.
TLm)
for native
fish or fishfood organisms.”
The District requested that it be
allowed to add Fintrol concentrate (antimycin)
to its McNaughton
Park Pond and Calvin Butterfield Pond during May 1975 to reduce
the population of stunted bluegill to restore the proper balance
of bass and bluegill for fishing purposes.
The ponds
are located
in Township 25N,
Range
4W,
Section
30, five miles northwest of
Pekin, Tazewell County,
Illinois.
Each pond will receive a
dosageof
a.ntimycin equivalent to 1.0 ppb.
The ponds are used
for public fishing only;
swimming and skating activities are not
allowed.
Neither pond serves as
a public water supply.
Treat-
ment will be supervised by
a biologist from the Illinois Depart-
ment of Conservation.
Since the fact situations
in the Petitions
are similar,
the Board has consolidated these cases for decision.
Pursuant to a request from the Illinois Environmental Pro-
tection Agency
(Agency)
,
Petitioner filed additional information
with the Agency on February 13,
1975.
The filed information stated
that:
1.
Only bluegill of 4.5 inches and under will be affected
by the application.
16—401
—2—
2.
Complete biodegradation of antimycin occurs in 48
to 168 hours.
3.
The ponds are small
(one has a surface of 3.6 acres,
the other 1.3 acres), and approximately
75 pounds of dead fish
are expected to be collected at each pond and will be buried on
District property.
4.
Both ponds have
a tube and riser type of spillway.
No treatment will be made if there is any possibility of water
discharge over the spillway.
5.
The method of detoxification suggested by the manu-
facturers
(potassium permanganate) will be available if its use
becomes necessary.
6.
The ponds have no tributaries that will introduce
fish of any kind.
On March
7,
1975,
the Agency filed its Recommendation
with the Board in both cases.
The Agency supplied additional
facts about the ponds:
1.
Both ponds have spiliways which discharge into Lick
Creek, a tributary of the Illinois River.
Lick Creek is not
used as a public water supply.
2.
Calvin Butterfield Pond,
the larger pond,
has a
leakage problem resulting in the continuous discharge of small
amounts of pond water into Lick Creek.
The amount of leakage
in the time following application of antimycin is expected to
have an insignificant effect on the waters of Lick Creek.
The Agency recommended that the variance be granted
subject to the kinds of conditions we imposed in City of
Jacksonville
v. Environmental Protection Agency PCB 74-92,
13 PCB 631
(September
19,
1974).
We grant the variances.
Proper safeguards and procedures
must be carried out.
Since the ponds are used primarily £or
fishing purposes,
it would impose an unreasonable hardship on
the District to deny the variances in these two cases.
ORDER in PCB 75-52
and 75-53
The Pekin Park District is hereby granted a variance from
Rule 203(h)
of Chapter Three to treat McNaughton Park Pond and
Calvin Butterfield Pond with antimycin during May 1975 subject
to the following conditions:
1.
The District shall abide by all the terms regarding
the antimycin applications contained in the February 13, 1975,
submissions to the Agency.
2.
The District shall
close McNaughton Park Pond and
Calvin Butterfield Pond and the ponds~surrounding land area to
16—402
—3—
all primary and secondary contact uses, including swimming,
boating, fishing, and camping during the period of administration
of the fish toxicant and until such time as fingerling rainbow
trout or fingerling bluegill do survive
48 hours of exposure in
livecars in the respective ponds.
3.
The District shall dispose of the dead fish in an
approved landfill or use another method of disposal acceptable
to the Agency.
4.
The application of the fish toxicant at the respective
ponds
shall be carried out under the on—site supervision of
a
fishery biologist from the Illinois Department of Conservation.
The fish toxicant shall not be applied unless no rain
is forecast
for 48 or more haurs after the treatment.
5.
The District shall
limit,
as much as possible, the
leakage from Calvin Butterfield Pond during the period when the
fish kill
is in process.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby c~rtifythat the
bove Opinion and Order was ad-
o4tedonthe~~
“
day of
______________,
1975, by a vote of
16
—
403