ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
November 20, 1997
NORTH SHORE SANITARY DISTRICT,
(Waukegan, Gurnee, and Clavey Road
Sanitary Treatment Plants),
Petitioner,
v.
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
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PCB 98-69
(Provisional Variance - Water)
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b)
(1996)), the North Shore Sanitary District, (Waukegan, Gurnee, and Clavey Road Sanitary
Treatment Plants) (petitioner), located in Lake County, Illinois, has requested that the Board
grant a provisional variance from Special Condition No. 8 of its National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permits Nos. IL0030244 (Waukegan), IL0035092 (Gurnee), and
IL0030171 (Clavey Road) and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.208(d) and 304.141(a).
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Such request
for a provisional variance and the notification of recommendation were filed with the Board by
the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) on November 18, 1997. Pursuant to
Section 35(b) of the Act, the Board must issue the variance within two (2) days of this filing.
Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/35(b) (1996)), the Agency, by and
through its Director, Mary A. Gade, seeks a provisional variance to allow petitioner to
continue to operate its sanitary treatment plants (STPs) while chlorine dissipation studies are
conducted. The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional variance
with specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the studies are necessary and anticipates
that the requested provisional variance would have minimal environmental impact on the
receiving stream. The Agency is unaware of any public water supplies that the requested
provisional variance would adversely impact and Agency maintains that a grant of a
provisional variance would violate no federal laws. Accordingly, the Agency believes that a
denial of the requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship
on the petitioner.
Specifically, the Agency recommends that the Board grant petitioner a 45-day
provisional variance for its Lake County facility from the total residual chlorine effluent
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The Agency recommendation states that Special Condition No. 8 is the same in each NPDES
permit.
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discharge requirements, as set forth in Special Condition No. 8 of its NPDES permits Nos.
IL0030244 (Waukegan), IL0035092 (Gurnee), and IL0030171 (Clavey Road), and 35 Ill.
Adm. Code 302.208(d) and 304.141(a). This variance period is recommended to begin on
November 5, 1997, and continue for 45 days, or until the chlorine dissipation studies are
completed, whichever occurs first.
Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary. The responsibilities of the
Agency and the Board in these short-term provisional variances are different from the
responsibilities in standard variances. See 415 ILCS 5/35(b), 36(c) (1996). In provisional
variances it is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical determinations and a
finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship. The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal
order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the enforceability of the
variance, and to provide notification of the action by a press release.
Having received the Agency recommendation that a denial of the requested relief would
impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants petitioner a provisional
variance from Special Condition No. 8 of its NPDES permits Nos. IL0030244 (Waukegan),
IL0035092 (Gurnee), and IL0030171 (Clavey Road), and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.208(d) and
304.141(a), subject to the following conditions:
1.
The term of this provisional variance shall commence on November 5, 1997,
and continue for 45 days, or until the chlorine dissipation studies are completed,
whichever occurs first.
2.
During the variance period, petitioner shall not exceed 1.20 parts per million
(ppm) chlorine residual concentration at the discharge of any of the three STPs’
chlorine contact tanks; and the chlorine residual concentration shall not exceed
0.75 ppm at any of the three outfall discharge sampling locations.
3.
Petitioner shall notify Chris Kallis at the Agency’s Maywood regional office by
telephone, at 708/338-7900, when the chlorine dissipation studies are
completed. Petitioner shall confirm this notice in writing within five (5) days,
addressed as follows:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
Attn: Mark Books
1021 N. Grand Avenue East
Springfield, IL 62702
Petitioner shall execute a copy of a certificate of acceptance of this provisional variance
and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the above
condition; petitioner shall forward that copy within ten (10) days of the date of this order of
the Board, and the certificate of acceptance shall take the following form:
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CERTIFICATION
I (We), _________________________________, hereby accept and
agree to be bound by all terms and conditions of the order of the Pollution
Control Board in PCB 98-69, November 20, 1997.
_____________________________________
Petitioner
_____________________________________
Authorized Agent
_____________________________________
Title
_____________________________________
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Board Member K.M. Hennessey abstained.
Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1996)) provides for
the appeal of final Board orders to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days of service of this
order. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 335 establishes such filing requirements. See 145 Ill. 2d
R. 335; see also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246, Motions for Reconsideration.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
the above order was adopted on the 20th day of November1997, by a vote of 6-0.
Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
