ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July 19,
    1990
    CITY OF MONNOUTH,
    )
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 90—132
    )
    (Provisional Variance)
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (R. Flemal):
    This matter comes before the Board on receipt of an Agency
    Recommendation dated July 17,
    1990.
    The recommendation refers to
    a request from Petitioner,
    City of Monmouth for a provisional
    variance from the biochemical oxygen demand
    (CBOD5), suspended
    solids
    (TSS), and ammonia nitrogen
    (NH3)
    effluent requirements,
    as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120(c),
    304.122(a), and
    304.141,
    for the period from when the City begins repairs to its
    wastewater treatment plant,
    by bypassing its activated sludge
    unit,
    and continuing until the City returns that unit to service,
    but not for longer than 45
    days.
    The City of Monmouth operates two wastewater treatment
    plants.
    Normally, treatment at the plant of interest, the
    Monmouth Main plant, consists of screening, grit removal,
    four
    primary clarifiers,
    two-stage activated sludge aeration,
    clarification,
    and filtration.
    The plant discharges effluent to
    Markham Creek,
    a tributary of Cedar Creek, Henderson Creek, and
    the Mississippi River.
    NPDES permit 1L0021253 requires the
    effluent to meet 10 mg/l BOD5
    (monthly average),
    12 mg/l TSS
    (monthly average), and 15 mg/l NH3
    (daily maximum, April through
    October).
    The City asserts that it must clean,
    inspect, and perform
    necessary preventative maintenance on the activated sludge
    treatment portion of its plant.
    During dewatering and repairs of
    this portion of the plant,
    the City intends to provide partial
    treatment of the plant flows:
    screening,
    grit removal, primary
    clarification,
    and secondary clarification,
    the City believes
    that it can thereby attain a partially treated effluent
    containing
    15 mg/l BOD5,
    20 mg/i TSS, and 4.0 mg/l NH3
    (monthly
    averages).
    The
    Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested
    provisional variance with specified conditions.
    The Agency
    agrees that the repairs are necessary.
    The Agency anticipates
    that the requested provisional variance would have minimal
    environmental impact on Henderson Creek.
    The Agency is unaware
    113—361
    2
    of any public water supplies that the requested provisional
    variance would adversely impact.
    The Agency maintains that a
    grant of a provisional variance would violate no federal
    laws.
    The Agency opines that a denial of the requested provisional
    variance would create an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship on
    the City.
    In light of the Agency Recommendation,
    the Board hereby
    grants
    a provisional variance from 35 Ill.
    Adm.
    Code 304.120(c),
    304.122(a),
    and 304.141 on the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence
    when the City of Monmouth initiates bypassing its activated
    sludge unit,
    and it shall expire on the date the City of
    Monmouth returns its activated sludge unit to service or
    after 45 days have elapsed, whichever comes first;
    2.
    During the term of this provisional variance,
    the
    effluent from
    t.he City of Monmouth’s treatment plant shall
    not exceed concentrations of 15 mg/l
    BOD5,
    20 mg/l TSS,
    or
    4.0 mg/i NH3
    (each on a monthly average basis);
    3.
    The City of Monmouth shall notify Ken Newman of the
    Agency’s Peoria office by telephone,
    at 309’-693—5463, when
    it removes
    its activated sludge unit from service and when
    it returns the unit to service,
    and the City shall confirm
    this notice in writing within five days,
    addressed as
    follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Division of Water Pollution Control
    Compliance Assurance Section
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield,
    Illinois
    62794—9276
    Attention:
    Erin Rednour
    5.
    The City of Monmouth shall return its activated sludge
    unit to service as soon as possible and operate its plant
    during the term of this provisional variance in
    a manner
    that assures the best treatment practicable;
    and
    6.
    The City shall execute a copy of a Certificate of
    Acceptance of this provisional variance and forward that
    copy to the Agency addressed as indicted
    in condition 4;
    the
    City shall forward that copy within 10 days of the date of
    this Order of the Board,
    i.e.,
    on or before July 29,
    1990;
    and the Certificate of Acceptance shall take the following
    form:
    11
    3-3~2
    3
    CERTIFlCATION
    I
    (We), _______________________________
    hereby accept and agree to be bound by all terms
    and conditions of the Order of the Pollution
    Control Board in PCB 90—132, July 19,
    1990.
    Petitioner
    Authorized Agent
    Title
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I,
    Dorothy N. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Bo~
    do hereby cert~
    t at the above Order was adopted on the
    day
    of ___________________________,
    1990,
    by a vote of
    ~),
    /~
    Dorothy M.
    9ü4n, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
    113—363
    S
    S

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