ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February 16, 2006

IN THE MATTER OF: )

)

REVISIONS TO RADIUM WATER QUALITY ) R04-21

STANDARDS: PROPOSED NEW 35 ILL. ADM. ) (Rulemaking – Water)

CODE 302.307 and AMENDMENTS TO )

35 ILL. ADM. CODE 302.207 and 302.525 )

Adopted Rule. Final Order.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by N.J. Melas):

Today the Board adopts the proposed rule for final notice pursuant to the Illinois

Administrative Procedure Act (IAPA) (5 ILCS 100/5-5

et seq

. (2004)). The adopted rule is

unchanged from the rule proposed for second notice.

The Board’s authority in rulemaking proceedings stems from Section 5(b) of the

Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/5 (2004)), which provides that the Board “shall

determine, define and implement the environmental control standards applicable in the State of

Illinois and may adopt rules and regulations in accordance with Title VII of the Act.” 415 ILCS

5/5(b) (2004). Title VII of the Act sets forth the statutory parameters for rulemaking by the

Board. 415 ILCS 5/26-29 (2004). The Board may adopt a rule after hearing and determination

of the economic reasonableness and technical feasibility of the rule.

See

415 ILCS 5/27 (2004).

The Board’s decision is based on the record before the Board including all testimony and

comments filed with the Board. 35 Ill. Adm. Code 102.418.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED RADIUM WATER QUALITY STANDARD FOR

FINAL NOTICE

Today the Board adopts for final notice the general use water quality standard for

combined radium 226 and 228 that was adopted for second-notice review by the Joint

Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) on December 15, 2005. The Board retains the

standard of 3.75 pCi/L combined radium 226 and 228, but sets the standard as an annual average

value, rather than an instantaneous maximum standard. This standard, applies to all general use

waters of the State, including stream segments that receive discharge from POTWs, as well as

the Lake Michigan Basin. The Board also adopts a 5pCi/L combined radium 226 and 228

standard for Public and Food Processing Water Supplies as an instantaneous maximum standard

for public and food processing water supply intakes.

BACKGROUND

On January 13, 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) filed a proposal to

amend Part 302 of the Board’s water quality standards.

The Agency proposed to change the

general use and Lake Michigan water quality standards for radium from 1 pCi/L radium 226 to 5

pCi/L combined radium 226 and 228 and apply the proposed standards specifically to surface

waters used for public and food processing water supplies. According to the Agency, these

changes would make the radium water quality standards consistent with the federal finished

water maximum contaminant level (MCL) and ensure the protection of surface water intakes for

raw drinking water in the State. The Agency argued the proposed changes would also relieve a

regulatory burden for many existing POTWs that receive, treat, and discharge wastewater from

public water supplies that remove radium from high radium groundwater.

The Board accepted this proposal for hearing on January 22, 2004. The Board has held

five days of hearings before the Board hearing officer, members, and staff. The first hearing was

held on April 1, 2004, at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. The second hearing was

held on May 6, 2004, at the Board’s offices in Springfield. Both hearings allowed the proponent

and any other interested party the opportunity to present testimony on the merits and economic

impact of the rulemaking proposal.

On July 8, 2004, the Board adopted the Agency’s proposal for publication of first notice

in the

Illinois Register,

but noted by hearing officer order that the Board would hold a third

hearing. First notice was published in the

Illinois Register

on August 6, 2004. 28 Ill. Reg. 32,

pg. 10887,

eff

. Aug. 6, 2004. First-notice publication in the

Illinois Register

began a public

comment period for interested persons to file comments with the Board. The Board held a third

hearing on August 25, 2004, in Springfield. The Board gave notice of hearings a fourth time and

they continued on October 21 and 22, 2004, in Chicago.

On April 7, 2005, the Board adopted the proposal, with modifications, for publication of

the 2005 first notice in the

Illinois Register

. The 2005 first notice was published in the

Illinois

Register

on April 11, 2005. 29 Ill. Reg. 17, pg. 5782,

eff.

Apr. 11, 2005. Second first-notice

publication began another 45-day public comment period. On May 13, 2005, the City of Joliet

(Joliet) moved the Board to extend the public comment period through August 15, 2005. The

Board granted the motion and extended the comment period as requested.

The Board received 13 additional public comments after first notice publication. On

December 15, 2005, the Board proceeded to second first notice with a rule that differed from the

Board’s proposal adopted for first notice in 2004. Revisions to Radium Water Quality

Standards: Proposed New 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.307 and Amendments to 35 Ill. Adm. Code

302.207 and 302.525, R04-21 (Dec. 15, 2005). On December 29, 2005, the Board received

notice that JCAR accepted the second notice in this rulemaking on December 27, 2005. JCAR

considered the rule at the January 18, 2006 JCAR meeting, and subsequently issued a

certification of no objection to the rule.

The Agency’s Statement of Reasons included in the rulemaking proposal will be cited as

“Statement at _.”

SUMMARY OF FIRST-NOTICE PROPOSAL

At first notice in 2004, the Board adopted the original proposal filed by the Agency. As

discussed above, the Agency’s proposal was to eliminate any general use water quality standard

and instead adopt a standard of 5 pCi/L combined radium 226 and 228 that would apply

specifically to public and food processing water supply intakes. The Board accepted this

proposal for hearing.

At second first notice in 2005, the Board proposed a general use water quality standard of

3.75 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) radium 226 and 228 combined (combined radium) applicable to

all general use waters of the State. In addition, the Board proposed a general use water quality

standard of 30 pCi/L combined radium applicable to waters receiving discharge from publicly

owned treatment works (POTWs). The 30 pCi/L standard applied from the point of discharge to

one mile downstream of the discharge outfall and was incorporated as a new Section 302.207(d).

DISCUSSION OF SECOND-NOTICE PROPOSAL AND ADOPTED AMENDMENTS

The proposal that the Board adopts for final notice is unchanged from that adopted at

second notice. Therefore, in this section the Board discusses the second-notice proposal together

with the adopted amendments. At second notice, the Board analyzed the participants’

recommendations and other issues raised in public comments. The Board determined, as it did in

adopting the proposal for second first notice in 2005, that a general use water quality standard

for radium 226 and 228 combined must be retained in order to protect human health and the

environment, including aquatic life and riparian mammals.

At second-notice, the Board expressed that limit as an average measured over the length

of a year. Under the proposed standard, while the concentration of radium 226 and 228

combined may be higher than 3.75 pCi/L at times due to environmental conditions, the water

body will still meet the standard as long as the concentration averaged over the period of a year

remains at or below 3.75 pCi/L. Also at second notice, the Board eliminated the 30 pCi/L water

quality standard applicable up to one-mile downstream of POTW discharges.

The Board’s second-notice proposal did not incorporate the Agency’s suggestion of

allowing for mixing even if the stream has a zero 7Q10 flow. The Agency did not support this

new proposal with evidence contained in the record, but stated only that allowing mixing zones

in dischargers’ permits would provide added relief for POTWs.

Also at second notice, the Board adopted a Public and Food Processing Water Supply

standard of 5 pCi/L combined radium 226 and 228 to ensure that public water supplies meet the

Federal drinking water maximum contaminant level for radium. Since the proposed general use

standard is based on a long-term average concentration, the Board found that an instantaneous

surface water intake standard would ensure protection from upstream discharges that could cause

a Public and Food Processing Water Supply to exceed 5 pCi/L. The Board adopts the standard

proposed for second notice unchanged for final notice.

The Board finds the rule proposed for final adoption will be more technically feasible and

economically reasonable than the current radium water quality standard since it increases the

standard for radium 226 and 228 combined. On April 2, 2004, the Board also received a letter

from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) stating that it would not

conduct an economic impact study (EcIS) on the proposed rule. Nobody testified or commented

about DCEO’s decision not to perform an economic impact study on this rulemaking. As found

at second notice, the Board finds the proposal is both technically feasible and economically

reasonable.

CONCLUSION

To protect all designated uses of Illinois waters, the Board adopts a 3.75 pCi/L combined

radium 226 and 228 standard applicable to general use waters and the Lake Michigan Basin.

Compliance with the standard is determined by the annual average of combined radium

concentrations. The proposal applies a 5.0 pCi/L combined radium 226 and 228 standard to

Public and Food Processing Water Supply intakes as an instantaneous standard. The Board finds

the proposal adopted today is economically reasonable and technically feasible. The Board

adopts this proposal for final notice pursuant to the IAPA 95 ILCS 100/5-5

et seq

. (2004).

ORDER

The Board directs the Clerk to cause the filing of the following rule with the Secretary of

State for publication as an adopted rule in the

Illinois Register

TITLE 35: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

SUBTITLE C: WATER POLLUTION

CHAPTER I: POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

PART 302

WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

SUBPART A: GENERAL WATER QUALITY PROVISIONS

Section

302.100 Definitions

302.101 Scope and Applicability

302.102 Allowed Mixing, Mixing Zones and ZIDs

302.103 Stream Flows

302.104 Main River Temperatures

302.105 Antidegradation

SUBPART B: GENERAL USE WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

Section

302.201 Scope and Applicability

302.202 Purpose

302.203 Offensive Conditions

302.204 pH

302.205 Phosphorus

302.206 Dissolved Oxygen

302.207 Radioactivity

302.208 Numeric Standards for Chemical Constituents

302.209 Fecal Coliform

302.210 Other Toxic Substances

302.211 Temperature

302.212 Total Ammonia Nitrogen

302.213 Effluent Modified Waters (Ammonia)(Repealed)

SUBPART C: PUBLIC AND FOOD PROCESSING WATER SUPPLY STANDARDS

Section

302.301 Scope and Applicability

302.302 Algicide Permits

302.303 Finished Water Standards

302.304 Chemical Constituents

302.305 Other Contaminants

302.306 Fecal Coliform

302.207 Radium 226 and 228

SUBPART D: SECONDARY CONTACT AND INDIGENOUS AQUATIC LIFE

STANDARDS

Section

302.401 Scope and Applicability

302.402 Purpose

302.403 Unnatural Sludge

302.404 pH

302.405 Dissolved Oxygen

302.406 Fecal Coliform (Repealed)

302.407 Chemical Constituents

302.408 Temperature

302.409 Cyanide

302.410 Substances Toxic to Aquatic Life

SUBPART E: LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

Section

302.501 Scope, Applicability, and Definitions

302.502 Dissolved Oxygen

302.503 pH

302.504 Chemical Constituents

302.505 Fecal Coliform

302.506 Temperature

302.507 Thermal Standards for Existing Sources on January 1, 1971

302.508 Thermal Standards for Sources Under Construction But Not In Operation on

January 1, 1971

302.509 Other Sources

302.510 Incorporations by Reference

302.515 Offensive Conditions

302.520 Regulation and Designation of Bioaccumulative Chemicals of Concern (BCCs)

302.521 Supplemental Antidegradation Provisions for Bioaccumulative Chemicals of

Concern (BCCs)

302.525 Radioactivity

302.530 Supplemental Mixing Provisions for Bioaccumulative Chemicals of Concern

(BCCs)

302.535 Ammonia Nitrogen

302.540 Other Toxic Substances

302.545 Data Requirements

302.550 Analytical Testing

302.553 Determining the Lake Michigan Aquatic Toxicity Criteria or Values - General

Procedures

302.555 Determining the Tier I Lake Michigan Acute Aquatic Toxicity Criterion

(LMAATC): Independent of Water Chemistry

302.560 Determining the Tier I Lake Michigan Basin Acute Aquatic Life Toxicity

Criterion (LMAATC): Dependent on Water Chemistry

302.563 Determining the Tier II Lake Michigan Basin Acute Aquatic Life Toxicity Value

(LMAATV)

302.565 Determining the Lake Michigan Basin Chronic Aquatic Life Toxicity Criterion

(LMCATC) or the Lake Michigan Basin Chronic Aquatic Life Toxicity Value

(LMCATV)

302.570 Procedures for Deriving Bioaccumulation Factors for the Lake Michigan Basin

302.575 Procedures for Deriving Tier I Water Quality Criteria and Values in the Lake

Michigan Basin to Protect Wildlife

302.580 Procedures for Deriving Water Quality Criteria and Values in the Lake Michigan

Basin to Protect Human Health – General

302.585 Procedures for Determining the Lake Michigan Basin Human Health Threshold

Criterion (LMHHTC) and the Lake Michigan Basin Human Health Threshold

Value (LMHHTV)

302.590 Procedures for Determining the Lake Michigan Basin Human Health

Nonthreshold Criterion (LMHHNC) or the Lake Michigan Basin Human Health

Nonthreshold Value (LMHHNV)

302.595 Listing of Bioaccumulative Chemicals of Concern, Derived Criteria and Values

SUBPART F: PROCEDURES FOR DETERMINING WATER QUALITY CRITERIA

Section

302.601 Scope and Applicability

302.603 Definitions

302.604 Mathematical Abbreviations

302.606 Data Requirements

302.612 Determining the Acute Aquatic Toxicity Criterion for an Individual Substance –

General Procedures

302.615 Determining the Acute Aquatic Toxicity Criterion - Toxicity Independent of

Water Chemistry

302.618 Determining the Acute Aquatic Toxicity Criterion - Toxicity Dependent on Water

Chemistry

302.621 Determining the Acute Aquatic Toxicity Criterion - Procedure for Combinations

of Substances

302.627 Determining the Chronic Aquatic Toxicity Criterion for an Individual Substance -

General Procedures

302.630 Determining the Chronic Aquatic Toxicity Criterion - Procedure for

Combinations of Substances

302.633 The Wild and Domestic Animal Protection Criterion

302.642 The Human Threshold Criterion

302.645 Determining the Acceptable Daily Intake

302.648 Determining the Human Threshold Criterion

302.651 The Human Nonthreshold Criterion

302.654 Determining the Risk Associated Intake

302.657 Determining the Human Nonthreshold Criterion

302.658 Stream Flow for Application of Human Nonthreshold Criterion

302.660 Bioconcentration Factor

302.663 Determination of Bioconcentration Factor

302.666 Utilizing the Bioconcentration Factor

302.669 Listing of Derived Criteria

APPENDIX A References to Previous Rules

APPENDIX B Sources of Codified Sections

APPENDIX C Maximum total ammonia nitrogen concentrations allowable for certain

combinations of pH and temperature

TABLE A pH-Dependent Values of the AS (Acute Standard)

TABLE B Temperature and pH-Dependent Values of the CS (Chronic Standard) for

Fish Early Life Stages Absent

TABLE C Temperature and pH-Dependent Values of the CS (Chronic Standard) for

Fish Early Life Stages Present

AUTHORITY: Implementing Section 13 and authorized by Sections 11(b) and 27 of the

Environmental Protection Act [415 ILCS 5/13, 11(b), and 27]

SOURCE: Filed with the Secretary of State January 1, 1978; amended at 2 Ill. Reg. 44, p. 151,

effective November 2, 1978; amended at 3 Ill. Reg. 20, p. 95, effective May 17, 1979; amended

at 3 Ill. Reg. 25, p. 190, effective June 21, 1979; codified at 6 Ill. Reg. 7818; amended at 6 Ill.

Reg. 11161, effective September 7, 1982; amended at 6 Ill. Reg. 13750, effective October 26,

1982; amended at 8 Ill. Reg. 1629, effective January 18, 1984; peremptory amendments at 10 Ill.

Reg. 461, effective December 23, 1985; amended at R87-27 at 12 Ill. Reg. 9911, effective May

27, 1988; amended at R85-29 at 12 Ill. Reg. 12082, effective July 11, 1988; amended in R88-1 at

13 Ill. Reg. 5998, effective April 18, 1989; amended in R88-21(A) at 14 Ill. Reg. 2899, effective

February 13, 1990; amended in R88-21(B) at 14 Ill. Reg. 11974, effective July 9, 1990; amended

in R94-1(A) at 20 Ill. Reg. 7682, effective May 24, 1996; amended in R94-1(B) at 21 Ill. Reg.

370, effective December 23, 1996; expedited correction at 21 Ill. Reg. 6273, effective December

23, 1996; amended in R97-25 at 22 Ill. Reg. 1356, effective December 24, 1997; amended in

R99-8 at 23 Ill. Reg. 11249, effective August 26, 1999; amended in R01-13 at 26 Ill. Reg. 3505,

effective February 22, 2002; amended in R02-19 at 26 Ill. Reg. 16931, effective November 8,

2002; amended in R02-11 at 27 Ill. Reg. 166, effective December 20, 2002; amended in R_____

at _____ Ill. Reg. _____, effective ____________________.

SUBPART B: GENERAL USE WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

Section 302.207 Radioactivity

a) Gross beta (STORET number 03501) concentration shall not exceed 100

picocuries per liter (pCi/L).

b) Concentrations of radium 226 (STORET number 09501) and sStrontium 90

(STORET number 13501) concentration must not exceed 1 and 2 picocuries per

liter (pCi/L)respectively.

c) The annual average radium 226 and 228 (STORET number 11503) combined

concentration must not exceed 3.75 picocuries per liter (pCi/L).

(Source: Amended at _____ Ill. Reg. __________, effective __________)

SUBPART C: PUBLIC AND FOOD PROCESSING WATER SUPPLY STANDARDS

Section 302.307 Radium 226 and 228

Radium 226 and 228 (STORET number 11503) combined concentration must not exceed 5

picocuries per liter (pCi/L) at any time.

(Source: Amended at _____ Ill. Reg. __________, effective __________)

SUBPART E: LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

Section 302.525 Radioactivity

Except as provided in Section 302.102, all waters of the Lake Michigan Basin must meet the

following concentrations in any sample:

a) Gross beta (STORET number 03501) concentrations must not exceed 100

picocuries per liter (pCi/L).

b) Concentrations of radium 226 (STORET number 09501) and sStrontium 90

(STORET number 13501) concentration shall not exceed 1 and 2 picocuries per

liter (pCi/L)respectively.

c) The annual average radium 226 and 228 (STORET number 11503) combined

concentration must not exceed 3.75 picocuries per liter (pCi/L).

(Source: Amended at _____ Ill. Reg. __________, effective __________)

IT IS SO ORDERED.

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

adopted the above opinion and order on February 16, 2006, by a vote of 4-0.

Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board