ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March 22, 1990

CITY OF POLO,

)

)

Petitioner,

)

V.

)

PCB 90—39

)

(Provisional Variance)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD (J. Marlin):

This matter comes before the Board on receipt of an Agency

Recommendation dated March 20, 1990. The recommendation refers

to a request from Petitioner, City of Polo, for a 45-day

provisional variance from effluent 5-day biochemical oxygen

demand (BOD5) and suspended solids (TSS) limitations, as set

forth in 35 Iii. Adm. Code 304.120(c), for the period beginning

from when the City removes its final clarifier from service, on

or about April 2, 1990, and lasting for a period of 45 days.

Upon receipt of the request the Agency issued its

recommendation, concluding that the failure to grant the

requested 45—day provisional variance would impose an arbitrary

or unreasonable hardship on Petitioner.

The City operates a wastewater treatment facility that

discharges to Buffalo Creek, a tributary of Elkhorn Creek, in the

Rock River basin. The present effluent limits for its discharges

are 10 mg/i BOD5 and 12 mg/i TSS (monthly averages. The City

must remove its final clarifier from service for repairs. The

Agency agrees that this is necessary. During the time the final

clarifier is down, the City’s plant will operate the remaining

equipment, primary settling, the con-tminutor, a trickling filter,

a polishing lagoon, and disinfection, providing primary and

secondary treatment with disinfection.

The Agency does not believe that the requested relief will

have any adverse impact on any downstream public water supply.

The Agency is not aware of any federal law that would preclude

the requested relief. The Agency agrees with the City that any

environmental impact of this provisional variance would be

minimal. The Agency recommends that the Board grant the

requested provisional variance with conditions.

In light of the Agency Recommendation, the Board hereby

grants a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120(c)

from the date the City of Polo removes its final clarifier from

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I

service and continuing for 45 days after that date, with the

following conditions:

1. The term of this provisional variance shall commence on

the date the City of Polo removes its final clarifier from

service, and it shall expire after the 45th day following

the date of such removal from service;

2. During the term of this provLsional variance, the

effluent from the City of Polo’ treatment plant shall not

exceed concentrations of 45 mg/i BOD5 and 60 mg/l TSS;

3. During the term of this provisional variance, the City

of Polo shall collect samples and analyze them according to

the terms of NPDES permit number IL0030449, and report them

to the Agency on its monthly discharge’ monitoring reports;

4. The City of Polo shall notify Dennis Connor of the

Agency’s Rockford office by telephone, at 815-987-7755, when

the final clarifier is removed from service and when the

work is completed, 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 Mark Brooks

5. During the term of this provisional variance, the City

of Polo shall operate its plant in a manner that assures

that it discharges the best quality effluent 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 April 2, 1990;

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 90-39, March 22, 1990.

Petitioner

Authorized Agent

Title

Date

IT IS SO ORDERED.

J. Dumelle concurred.

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, do hereby certif~that the above Order was adopted on the

~2”

~day of ___________________________, 1990, by a vote of

7-0

Dorothy M)Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board