ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    February 14,
    1973
    JOHN
    S. WINEMAN and
    KATHERINE S. WINEMAN
    v.
    )
    PCB 72—449
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Dumelle):
    The petitioners filed on November 16, 1972 for a variance
    to permit them to connect a new residence at 320 Cary Avenue in
    Highland Park to a sewer tributary to the Cary Avenue treatment
    plant of the North Shore Sanitary District
    (NSSD).
    We grant
    the variance for the reasons given below.
    Petitioners had filed earlier in PCB 72-310 for the same
    relief.
    The Board
    in an order without hearing denied that peti-
    tion on October
    17,
    1972.
    The Wineman’s purchased the lot in 1963 for $49,000.
    A
    home had been on the site and was razed but its sewer
    service
    remains and is usable.
    Since the razed building was removed far
    in advance of the Board’s sewer connection ban of March,
    1971,
    this fact does not qualify the variance for a grant under the
    Board’s
    “exchange” policies enumerated in other cases.
    Testimony showed that the Wineman’s had income in excess of
    $50,000 annually and a net worth in excess of $500,000
    (R.
    33)
    and maintain an apartment in Chicago.
    The septic tank the Wineman’s
    might have
    to build would cost $5,000 and its construction might
    kill
    some
    8 to 15 mature oaks of
    40 oaks on the property
    (R.
    82,
    84)
    We cannot use the economic hardship argument in its usual
    sense here since the Wineman’s are well able to afford the expendi-
    ture of $5,000 and even a loss in property value because of the
    loss of the trees.
    However, we need not waste resources if other
    factors will prevent that waste.
    7
    —
    105
    We grant the variance because of its minimal effect upon
    Lake Michigan in the light of the NSSD’s new use of alum
    (aluminum sulfate)
    at the Cary Avenue Plant to remove phosphorus.
    The record of the January
    9,
    1973 hearing unfortunately does not
    present data on the effluent strengths after
    the alum treatment
    which was first debugged on December 28,
    1972.
    However, by making
    some computations,
    it is possible to estimate the strength of the
    present effluent using principally the testimony of H. William
    Byers, General Manager and Chief Engineer of the NSSD.
    Using EPA Group Exhibit No.
    1,
    the average BOD for
    26
    tests
    (February 23, 1972 was omitted because of tank cleaning)
    was
    computed as being
    67 mg/l.
    Using
    a flow of
    1.0 MGD the Popula-
    tion Equivalent
    (P.
    E.)
    load to the Lake would be
    3350.
    Byers
    testified
    to a 1400
    P.
    E. additional removal because of
    the alum
    treatment
    CR.
    42).
    1400 is about 42
    of 3350.
    The balance
    (58)
    of an average 67 mg/i would be the effluent after alum treatment
    or about 39 mg/i.
    The secondary standard is 20 mg/l.
    This Board
    had previously set a 30 mg/l BOD level
    as being adequate at the
    NSSD Waukegan plant.
    A 42
    reduction in BOD going to the Lake makes the conditions
    applicable to this judgment much different from the earlier pro-
    ceeding which we dismissed
    (PCB72-310).
    And while the Wineman’s
    can afford the $5,000 for a septic tank,
    the Board policy has been
    to discourage their use whenever alternatives are present.
    The
    Wineman’s will not spend winters at their home and so, even if
    June,
    1974
    (R.
    44)
    is the date that Cary Avenue gets diverted to
    the Clavey Road Plant, then the additional load of
    two people will
    be only felt for nine of the twelve months ensuing after occupancy
    of
    their residence.
    In North Shore Sanitary District v. EPA (PCB72-45l)
    decided
    today,
    the later testimony of January 15,
    1973 revealed that the
    Cary Avenue Plant’s dry weather flow would go to Clavey Road Plant
    by June,
    1973
    (R. 108-109).
    If this date is achieved the instant
    proceeding would be mooted,but we grant it should delays occur.
    ORDER
    Variance is granted
    to the Petitioners
    to connect their
    new
    residence to the sewer.
    IT
    IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Christan
    L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, certify that the aboveA Opinion and Order was adopted by the
    Board on the
    ~44~
    day of
    ~
    ,
    1972, by
    a vote of
    ~3’
    to
    L~k~
    ~‘x~
    7
    —
    106

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