ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONT ROb BOARI)

November 1, 1973

MERIDIAN COMMUNITY UNIT SCUOOL

)

DISTRICT NO. 223

PETITIONER

)

PCI3

73—349

ENVIRONMENTAL 

P ROTECTION AGHN CY

RESPONDENT

AR. DERYLE BEIIMER, SECRETARY, BOARD

OF’ EDUCATION, 

in behalf of

the MERIDIAN COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 223

MR. LEE A. CAMPBELL, ASSISTANT

ATTOENLY 

GENERAL, in bettaif of

the ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGEil CY

OPINION AND ORDER OF’ THE BOAR1) (by Mr. Marder)

This action involves a variance request: by the Meridian

Coin—

munity Unit School I)istrict. Relief is sought from a sewer ban im-

posed by 

the

Agency, 

pursuant to

Rule 921 (a) of Chapter 3.

The

i4eridian District operates at present four school build—

ings housing a total of approximately 1500 students. 

The

majorit:y

of these students are located in Stiliman

Valley, while a 

minor per-

centage are located in a K—8 school system in Nonroe Center.

These

townships are located in Ogle

County, Illinois.

Petitioner alleges that all

schools in 

the district

are over-

populated,

and tLat the continuance of

t~iis 

situation

could only

cause hardship on

the

students.

In December 1972 the School Board presented a referendum

to the voters of the district,

requesting a new

high 

school and add-

itions to an elementary nuilding.

This referendum failed by a 2-1

vote. In ~4arch1973 questionnaires were sent out to the voters, and

while 70 of the answers indicated 

the

desire for a new school, the

major objection to 

the

referendum 

was that

it called for 

a new build-

ing on a site which would require independent sewer service. The

implication left ~is that a new referendum would succeed if land were

annexed to Stiliman Valley and the village sewer plant used to ser-

vice 

the

new building.

9—

727

—2—

Status of Stiliman Valley sewage plant:

The existing village sewage treatment plant contains a trick-

ling filter, an aerated lagoon, and a tertiary polishing pond. The

effluent from this pond is discharged to Stiliman Creek, which has

a 7-day, 10-year low flow of about 0.5 mgd. The effluent, somewhere

in excess of the design average flow of 0.045 mgd is unchiorinated,

and therefore contains an excess of fecal coliforms. Grab samples

obtained by the Agency show the following results:

Date    

130D        

SS

Fecal Coliform

(mg/i)     

m~7l    

(count /100 ml)

Jan. 11 ‘73   

55

26

50,000

Feb. 15 773   

32

22

23,000

Apr. 2 

773

16

23

600

Jun. 11 ~73   

30

80

4,300

Jul. 26 

773

4

33

3,600

The allowable under Rule 404 (a) are BOD 

30 mg/i, SS 

37 mg/i, F.C. 400/100 ml. (F, C. regulated by Rule 405.)

Although 

all

counts are exceeded 

in

some instances, the major

offender, as indicated, is fecal coliforms~ The Agency reports

that because of the 

relatively high dilution ratio, no 

noticeable

degradation 

of

Stiliman 

Creek

is observed.

On October 5~ 1972, the Agency

issued a construction permit

to the village 

allow upgrading of the sewage 

plant,

Construct-

ion has not co~unencedbecause 

of the

absence 

of federal

funds. 

The

sewer 

ban

is therefore still on 

effect.

Plans of Unit Tlistrict

The District allea:es that It has taken certain, steps to alley—

iatn the overorowdany) however these stes are at best temporary

and unreasonably h 1gb. i:n ens t

C)ne action cons :Ldered by the blat

—

riot would. be to add on to the exl.st_lnq: hi.gh school buildlnq in

order to utilize exist:Lnq sewe:r: facilities

ThIs 

wouid not~ be the

answer in that the lno.rease in P P allied would, still not b:a at

l(m.Te unde:c the sewer baa

To better

arstand the 

resee.t an

ro:osed

lt:uatIc~n the following teals isaresentecL

11111 bul i.ciin,e~ are al 1:5 ci to be )VSnlOadSd

~Vc~

amount

us nion I. is not

:1. rca Ic r td;ie K I an I. K I hal. :t~I.,:L

~::eri I h aus be

—3--

PRESENT

SITUATION

Location  

Grade Pres. 

Pop.    

Max. Cap. No. Over  Over

1. St. Valley K—5   

490

410

80

20

2. St. Valley 6—8   

290

200

90

45

3. St. Valley High   

435

350

85

33

Monroe

K—8

275

229

PROPOSED PLAN

Location  

Grade Prop. Pop.    

Max, Cap. No. Over  Over

1. St. Valley K—S   

490

410

80

20

2. St. Valley 6—8    

390

550

—160

3. St. Valley Merged with 6-8 Building

4. St. Valley New H.S. 435+

5. Monroe   

K—S   

175

229

The above clearly demonstrates the plan of the district, namely

to eliminate overloading in the district by:

Combining Buildings 2 and 3 into a 6-8 building

and transferring

about 100 students from Building

4

to the combined facilities

B) Building a new high school and transferring all of

the students from Building 3 to this new building

C) Possibly transferring some students from Building

1 to Monroe.

The maximum increase on the Stiliman Valley sewage plant will be

100 students; however, it should be less due to the transfer of

some students from Stiliman Valley to the Monroe School. The Agen-

cy believes that the increase of some 25/gal/day student on a 

max-

imum of 100 student increase should not seriously affect the pres-

ent water quality of Stiliman Creek.

As mentioned above a new referendum would have to be presented

to the voters in order to secure funds for a new building, The

Board then is asked to grant a variance before the feasibility of

a new high school is tested, This leads the Board to believe that

two parallel paths will be followed concurrently:

—4—

A) The attempt to gain funds for, construct, oc-

cupy, and use a new high school, and

B) The attempt to secure funds for, construct,

and operate a new addition to the present

sewage plant.

Although the Board feels that the variance petition may be pre-

mature in that no existing building is available, there is suffic-

ient hardship present to warrant a variance.

It is important to note that this case is different from the

now common North Shore sanitary hookup requests which the Board

must face in two very important respects:

1. The magnitude of flow from Stiliman Valley

is of much lesser quantity than those of

the major districts, and construction once

started can be accomplished in a relatively

short time.

2. Stilirnan Valley is not in the center of a

rapidly growing metropolis, but rather is

in a rural area. The grant of this vari-

ance would more probably be a single excep-

tion, rather than one in a series of requests.

In scope, then, this action is similar to the “Ronald H. and Car-

olyn Bower vs. Environmental Protection Agency, PCB 73-273” in which

the Board granted a variance in a smaller community, which was wait-

ing federal funding for a new sewage facility.

The Agency has brought up two points in its recommendation

which will now be discussed.

1) The Agency has received two citizen objections to the vari-

ance. Both complainants have the same address and last name, and

are assumed to be related. The only complaint of importance is

that the new construction could possibly endanger the drinking water

supply. No evidence was submitted to support this complaint.

2) The Agency contends that a precondition to the grant should

be the installation of interim chlorination facilities at the exist-

ing village plant. While the Board feels that such treatment would

be beneficial, and is indeed sorely needed, we fail to see how this

is

Petitioner’s responsibility. Petitioner is a school district

and as such has no legal right to order the village to install in-

terim chlorination. This would be akin to asking an individual home

owner to order the North Shore Sanitary District to build enlarged

facilities as a precondition for his variance. The Agency would do

better to simply recommend a flat denial than to recommend a condi-

tion of this sort. Indeed, irrespective of the outcome of this pet-

itiOn, the Agency should consider instituting discussions with the

9

—

130

—5—

Stillman Valley Village Board regarding chlorination of its effluent.

In light of the above the Board will order the variance granted.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions of

law of the Board.

IT IS 

THE

ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that a variation

be granted to the Meridian Community Unit School District No. 223

to hook up a proposed high school to the existing Stillman Valley

sewage plant.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of 

the

Illinois Pollution Control

Board, certify th~tthe above Opinion and Order was adopted by the

Board on the 

~  day of 

1973,

by a vote of ~

to

9

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731