ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January
23,
1975
VILLAGE
OF GRAYSLAKE,
Petitioner,
PCB 74~~409
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Respondent,
OPINION
AND
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Dumelle):
The Village of Grayslake filed a petition for variance
on November 1,
1974
seeking
an extension of
a previously
granted variance
(Village of Grayslake
v.
EPA, PCB 73~308,
10 PCB 35
(November 8,
1973)).
The Agency
filed
its recommendation
to grant the requested relief on December 20,
1974.
No
hearing was held in this matter.
Numerous citizen objections
were submitted by persons who reside in Third Lake.
Petitioner owns and operates a secondary sewage treatment
plant located in Lake County.
The effluent from petitioner’s
treatment facility flows to
the
Avon-Fremont Drainage Ditch,
an intermittent stream1 which is
a tributary to Third Lake.
Third Lake discharges to Mill Creek which is a tributary to
the Des Plaines River.
In the prior variance proceeding,
petitioner received a variance from Rule 203(c)
of the Water
Pollution Regulations.
Petitionerts prior request for a
variance from other effluent limitations was dismissed a
premature.
In this present proceeding, petitioner requests
an extension of the variance from Rule 203(c)
and a variance
from Rules 203(f),
404(f),
406, and 602 of the Water Pollution
Regulations. Petitioner seeks a variance from the various
rules to permit its effluent to exceed the ammonia nitrogen,
BOD,
suspended solids and phosphorus limitations applicable
to its discharge.
Petitioner has entered into a contract with the Lake
County Public Works Department to transport the effluent
from petitioner~ssewage treatment plant to the Gurnee
Treatment Plant currently under construction by the North
Shore Sanitary District
(NSSD)
.
In the previous variance
proceedings
it
was anticipated that petitioner~seffluent
would be diverted no later than January
1,
1975.
Petitioner
now estimates that connection can be made to the Gurnee
Plant by November 1,
1976 when a raw sewage pumping station
15
—
333
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is placed in operation to receive the effluent from the
regional interceptor into which petitioner will discharge.
The Agency stated that the Lake County Public Works Department
interceptor has a high priority number which the Agency
believes will enable funding in the present fiscal year.
The delay in diverting petitioner’s effluent to the Gurnee
Sewage Treatment Plant was beyond the control of petitioner.
In an effort to reduce infiltration, petitioner has
entered into an extensive grouting program which has resulted
in over 50
of petitioner’s sanitary sewers being grouted.
Petitioner states that the average BOD of its effluent was
11.9 m~/land the average suspended solids effluent was 6.02
mg/l for the first eight months of 1974. The previous opinion
of the Board discussed the degraded water quality present in
Third Lake.
The Agency,
however, recommends that the Board
grant the requested extension because little environmental
improvement in the Avon-Fremont drainage ditch or Third Lake
would occur if petitioner was required to implement control
technology
to remove phosphorus or ammonia nitrogen from its
wastewater effluent during the brief period of operation
until diversion to the Gurnee Plant.
The Board agrees with
the Agency because sufficient phosphorus and other nutrients
for excessive algae growth will be present in Third Lake
even if petitioner were to immediately divert its flow.
These nutrients are contained within the two feet of dead
algal mass at the bottom of Third Lake.
These would be re-
introduced into Third Lake by normal breakdown and lake
overturn.
For these reasons the Board has decided to grant
petitioner variance to November 1,
1976.
Petitioner’s request for a variance from Rule 406 of
the Water Pollution Regulations is inappropriate because
Rule 406 applies to discharges to the Illinois River the Des
Plaines River downstream of its confluence with the Chicago
River System,
the Chicago River system,
and the Calumet
River system.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
and conclusions of law.
ORDER
Petitioner is hereby granted an extension of the variance
from Rule 203(c)
of the Water Pollution Regulations from
November 9, 1974 until November
1,
1976.
Petitioner is
hereby granted a variance from Rules 203(f), pertaining to
ammonia nitrogen; Rule 404(f), pertaining
to BOD and suspended
solids; and Rule 602, pertaining to the upgrading and enlarging
of petitioner’s sewage treatment plant, from January
1,
1975
until November 1,
1976.
These variances are granted subject
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334
—3—
to the following conditions:
1.
Petitioner shall not increase the strength or
quantity of the wastewater discharge during the term of
the variance.
2.
Petitioner shall utilize the methods available to
obtain the best effluent quality possible from existing
waste treatment facilities.
3.
Petitioner shall divert all flows to the NSSD
Gurnee Sewage Treatment Plant within
30 days after the
interceptor sewer is placed in operation.
4.
Petitioner’s discharge shall not exceed 10 mg/l of
DOD and 12 mg/l of suspended solids as a daily average
value with a limitation of 25 mg/i DOD and 30 xng/l of
suspended solids as a daily maximum.
Petitioner’s request for a variance from Rule 406 is
hereby dismissed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereb~certify the above Opinion and Order were
adopted on the
Q3~
day of January, 1975 by a vote of
1—c
Christan L. Moffei~.4~1Lerk
Illinois Pollution~tro1 Board
15—335