ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
September
2
,
1976
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
VANDALIA CORRECTIONAL CENTER,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 76—172
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Young):
This matter comes before the Board on the variance petition
filed June
16,
1976 by the Illinois Department of Corrections
for the Vandalia Correctional Center seeking relief from Rules
203(c)
and 402 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Rules and Regulations
as regards phosphorus.
The Agency filed
a Recommendation on
August
2,
1976;
no hearing was held in this matter.
At the present time, Petitioner owns and operates a sewage
treatment plant consisting of a comminutor, a primary settling
tank, trickling filter, secondary settling tank and a heated
digester with floating cover,
and which treats approximately
150,000 GPD of domestic waste.
The plant was installed
in 1953
to treat sewage from a design population equivalent of 2,460 per-
sons.
The treatment plant’s effluent, which contains 5.8 mg/l
phosphorus,
is discharged to the Kaskaskia River which
is tribu-
tary
to the Carlyle Lake Reservoir.
Rule 203(c)
sets a standard of 0.05 mg/i for phosphorus
as
P in any reservoir or lake or in any stream at the point where
it enters any reservoir or lake and Rule 402 requires that Peti-
tioner’s effluent not contribute to
a violation of the Rule 203(c)
water quality standard.
Because the phosphorus concentration in
the Kaskaskia River as it enters the Carlyle Reservoir presently
exceeds
0.05 mg/l, the Petitioner’s effluent is water quality
limited to the Rule 203(c) standard of 0.05 mg/l phosphorus.
Petitioner plans
to make some modifications to its treatment
plant which include the construction of chlorination facilities
as well as the addition of phosphorus removal facilities utilizing
chemical precipitation with aluminum sulfate.
With the use of
23 —407
—2—
chemical
precipitation,
the effluent phosphorus concentration
will be reduced to
1 mg/i.
Because the treatment plant effluent
is water quality limited to 0.05 rng/l phosphorus, Petitioner
seeks this variance from that standard so that a construction
permit can be obtained from the Agency for the phosphorus removal
facilities.
Petitioner submits that there is no feasible method of
attaining the 0.05 mg/i standard for its discharge.
While the
Petitioner did consider pumping the effluent into an adjacent
watershed as well as land application,
these alternatives were
considered undesirable for economic reasons.
Based upon the USEPA National Eutrophication Report, the
annual total phosphorus loading to Carlyle Reservoir is 316,630
Kg/yr.
Assuming 5.8 mg/i phosphorus and an average flow rate
of
.150 MGD,
the phosphorus loading from Petitioner’s facility
is presently about 7.25 lbs/day which represents approximately
0.3
of the total.
With the addition of the new phosphorus
removal facilities,
the phosphorus loading will be reduced to
about 1.25 lbs/day,
or approximately 0.06
of the total.
On January 5,
1976,
the Agency filed a Petition for Regula-
tory Change
(R76-l) with the Board which would amend the Regula-
tions by requiring point sources which have 1500 or more population
equivalent to treat wastewater to a level not to exceed
1 mg/i
prior to discharge.
As justification for this proposal the Agency
submits that eutrophication studies by both the United States
Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois State Water Sur-
vey reveal that the contribution of point source discharges to the
total phosphorus problem of lakes and reservoirs is small compared
to the non-point contribution.
The Agency submits that non-point
sources, such as run-off waters from farm lands fertilized with
phosphate base fertilizers, account for the overwhelming majority
of the phosphorus loading of most lakes and reservoirs.
After weighing the high costs associated with complying with
the 0.05 mg/i phosphorus standard aqainst the extremely small
contribution that Petitioner’s discharge will make to the Carlyie
Reservoir phosphorus problem,
the Board is disposed to grant the
relief requested.
Until the phosphorus removal facilities are
completed,
the discharge from the plant shall not exceed the
present phosphorus concentration of 5.8 mg/i.
Furthermore, upon
the completion of treatment plant improvements
in August,
1977,
Petitioner will be required to produce an effluent which does not
contain more than 1.0 mg/i phosphorus.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and con-
clusions of law in this matter.
23
—
408
—3—
ORDER
The Vandalia Correctional Center is granted a variance for
the operation of its sewage treatment plant from Rules 203(c)
and 402 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Regulations as regards
phosphorus until September 1,
1981, subject to the following con-
ditions:
1.
Until the completion of the phosphorus removal facilities
in August of 1977, the current phosphorus discharge concentration
of 5.8 mg/i shall not be exceeded on a monthly average.
2.
Upon the completion of the phosphorus removal facilities
in August 1977, the plant’s discharge shall not exceed 1.0 mg/i
phosphorus.
3.
This variance will terminate upon adoption by the Board
of any modification of the existing phosphorus water quality
standards or effluent limitations and the Petitioner shall comply
with such revised regulations when adopted by the Board.
4.
Within 35 days of the date of this Order, the Vandalia
Correctional Center shall submit to the Manager, Variance Section,
Division of Water Pollution Control,
Illinois Environmental Pro-
tection Agency, 2200 Churchill Road, Springfield, Illinois, 62706,
an executed Certification of Acceptance and agreement to be bound
to all terms and conditions of the variance.
The form of said
certification shall be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We), __________________________
having read
the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 76-172,
understand and accept said Order, realizing that such
acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto
binding and enforceable.
SIGNED
TITLE
DATE
IT IS SO ORDERED.
—4—
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify the a ove Opinion and Order were
adopted on the
~
day of
________________,
1976 by a
7~I~
e’~
Christan
L. Moffett, C~k
Illinois Pollution Control Board
23—410