Subscribed and Sworn to
Before me this 19` h day of
I
-Af-
-
,
ember-
s
'06
.RIe_
BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOAR!? E
CLERK'S
C E I
OFFICE
V E D
IN THE MATTER OF :
)
R04-25
DEC
.19 2006
PROPOSED
AMENDMENTS TO
STATE OF ILLINOIS
)
DISSOLVED
OXYGEN STANDARD )
(Rulemaking - Water)
Pollution
ontrol Board
35 ILL. ADM. CODE 302.206
)
NOTICE OF FILING
TO : SEE ATTACHED SERVICE LIST
.
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on
December 19, 2006, we filed the attached Public
Comments of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
with the
Pollution Control Board, Dorothy Gunn, Clerk, JRTC, 100 W
. Randolph Street, Suite 11-500,
Chicago, Illinois 60601, a copy of which is herewith served upon you
.
METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION
DISTRIC OF GREATER CHICAG
Frederick M. Feldman, Its Attorney
MWRDGC
Frederick M. Feldman
Alan J. Cook
Margaret T. Conway
100 East Erie
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel . (312) 751-6587
Fax (312) 751-6598
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
1, Judith Pappalardo
, being duly sworn on oath, certify that I caused a copy of the
above Notice and attached
Public
Comments of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of
Greater Chicago
to be sent via first-class U .S
. Mail to the individuals identified on the attached
service list, at their address as shown, with proper postage prepaid, from
100 East Erie Street,
Chicago, Illinois, at or near the hour of 4 :30 p.m
. this 19`h day of Decem ..=
006.
49IF
ace -
OFFICIAL SEAL
ROSALIE BOTTARI
NOTARY
MY COMMISSION
PUBLIC -
STATE
EXPIRESOF
:04/10110ILLINOIS
Office of the Attorney General
Interested Party
188 W. Randolph, 20th Floor
Chicago, IL 60601
Gardner, Carton & Douglas
Interested Party
191 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 3700
Chicago, IL 60606-1698
Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal
Interested Party
8000 Sears Tower
233 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606-6404
Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group
Interested Party
3150 Roland Avenue
Springfield, IL 62703
Thom Creek Basin Sanitary District
Interested Party
700 West End Avenue
Chicago Heights, IL 60411
Hedinger Law Office
Interested Party
2601 S. Fifth Street
Springfield, IL 62703
Fred L. Hubbard, Attorney at Law
Interested Party
16 West Madison, P.O. Box 12
Danville, IL 61834-0012
Illinois Pollution Control Board
Interested Party
100 W. Randolph Street, Suite 11-500
Chicago, IL 60601
SERVICE LIST
Bloomington/Normal Water Reclamation District
Interested Party
2
IEPA
Respondent
1021 N. Grand Avenue East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
Hodge, Dwyer, Zeman
Interested Party
3150 Roland Avenue
P.O. Box 5776
Springfield, IL 62705-5776
Ross & Hardies
Interested Party
150 N
. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2500
Chicago, IL 60601-7567
Chemical Industry Council of Illinois
Interested Party
2250 E. Devon Avenue, Suite 239
Des Plaines, IL 60018-4509
American Water Company
Interested Party
727 Craig Road
St. Louis, MO 63141
Vermillion Coal Company
Interested Party
1979 Johns Drive
Glenview, IL 60025
Blackwell, Sanders, Peper, Martin LLP
Interested Party
4801 Main Street, Suite 1000
Kansas City, MO 64112
City of Joliet
Department of Public Works and Utilities
Interested Party
921 E. Washington Street
Joliet, IL 60431
Downers Grove Sanitary District
Interested Party
P
.O. Box 3307
Bloomington, IL 61702-3307
Fox Metro Water Reclamation District
Interested Party
682 State Route 31
Oswego, IL 60543
Dr. Thomas J. Murphy
Interested Party
2325 N. Clifton Street
Chicago, IL 60614
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Interested Party
35 E. Wacker, Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60601
Office of Lt . Governor Pat Quinn
Interested Party
Room 214 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
City of Geneva
Interested Party
22 South First Street
Geneva, IL 60134-2203
Friends of the Chicago River
Interested Party
22 South First Street
Geneva, IL 60134-2203
3
2710 Curtiss Street
Downers Grove, IL 60515
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Interested Party
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702-1271
Barnes & Thornburg
Interested Party
1 N
. Wacker, Suite 4400
Chicago, IL 60606
Evanston Environment Board
Interested Party
223 Grey Avenue
Evanston, IL 60202
Ecological Monitoring and Assessment
Interested Party
3206 Maple Leaf Drive
Glenview, IL 60025
Brown, Hay & Stephens LLP
Interested Party
700 First Mercantile Bank Building
205 South Fifth Street
P.O. Box 2459
Springfield, IL 62705-2459
Richard J. McGill, Jr., Hearing Officer
Illinois Pollution Control Board
100 West Randolph Street, Suite 11-500
Chicago, IL 60601
RECEIVEDCLERK'S
OFFICE
ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
DEC 19 2006
IN THE MATTER OF
)
Pollution
STATE OF
Control
ILLINOIS
Board
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO R04-25
)
R04-25
DISSOLVED OXYGEN STANDARD
)
(Rulemaking - Water)
35 ILL. ADM. CODE 302 .206
PUBLIC COMMENTS OF THE METROPOLITAN WATER
RECLAMATION DISTRICT OF GREATER CHICAGO IN
THE MATTER OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO
DISSOLVED OXYGEN STANDARD, 35 III.ADM. CODE 302 .206
The proposed amendment to the dissolved oxygen standard serves to establish a scien-
tifically sound and practical dissolved oxygen standard for aquatic life in Illinois
. The District
is concerned that the testimony of Dr
. Thomas Murphy is clouding our attempt to achieve a
useful water quality standard
. Because of this concern, the District has the following com-
ments on the testimony of Dr . Thomas Murphy concerning the subject proceedings.
Page 46, lines 8-24 and page 47, lines 1-2,
Concentration of dissolved oxygen has been
expressed as mg/L in water quality standards since before the Clean Water Act of 1972 and are used
for this purpose throughout the United States
. The IPCB does not need to "re-invent the wheel," so
to speak, on this topic
. It is simply more convenient to express the concentration of dissolved oxy-
gen in mg/L than as the percentage saturation, temperature, and oxygen tension . The classic work
"Fish and River Pollution" by J . R. Erichsen Jones (1964), stresses this point
. In this work, Jones
asserts that in stating concentrations of oxygen in water, values in parts per million are usually
given in mg/L and that sometimes the concentration is given in percentage of saturation but in this
case the temperature must be stated. Ultimately, Jones agrees with Fry (1957) that it is
always pref-
erable to express the concentration in mg/L.
This convention has been upheld for the past forty years.
Dr. Murphy has referred to himself as a chemist
. He has approached the determination of
dissolved oxygen standards for fish based on his understanding of water chemistry alone
. While
I appreciate his input in these proceedings, it is necessary to point out that his insistence on re-
vamping the useful, ubiquitous, and time-tested method of expressing dissolved oxygen on a
concentration basis, with expression as percent saturation and temperature is becoming an un-
necessary distraction, rather than a meaningful solution for establishing a dissolved oxygen stan-
dard
. This is especially problematic when Dr
. Murphy finally recommends in his testimony
(page 51, lines 12-17) that the dissolved standard be 6 mg/L or 6
.5 mg/L, which are, of course,
concentrations in mg/L, not percent saturation
.
Dr
. Murphy's concern that basing the standard on dissolved oxygen concentration is not
protective appears to be due to the fact that during the colder months, when oxygen solubility is
greatest, the proposed dissolved oxygen concentration limit is lowest, resulting in lower required
dissolved oxygen saturation than during warm months
. Dr
. Murphy has indicated in his testi-
mony that a dissolved oxygen saturation level of 47 percent or greater is protective . Dr
. Murphy
presents no valid evidence for Illinois that dissolved oxygen saturation during the August-
February period is limiting or harmful to fish
. The needs of fish change during this time of year
.
Dr. Murphy does not present any specific data for Illinois that below 47 percent, saturation con-
ditions become bad for fish species in Illinois . Why go to the trouble of calculating dissolved
oxygen saturation when it is just as easy to use dissolved oxygen concentration in mg/L? Drs
.
Garvey and Whiles have already spent considerable time investigating the dissolved oxygen
needs of fish in Illinois and have expressed these needs in terms of dissolved oxygen concentra-
tion. If Dr. Murphy used these same data, except as dissolved oxygen saturation, at specific wa-
ter temperatures, would he not have come to the same conclusion as did Drs
. Garvey and
Whiles?
There is no sound theoretical reason for assuming that the availability of dissolved oxygen to
fish is better represented by its tension, or by the percentage of saturation, than by its concentration in the
aqueous medium (Doudoroff and Shumway, 1970) . Since concentration and percent saturation are
proportional, once a rational standard is set, based on either concentration or saturation, the
measurement of compliance as concentration-based or saturation-based is largely a matter of
logistics.
Respectfully Submitted,
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of
Greater Chicago
BY: Louis Kollias,
vctw
Director
k4&4
of Research &
Development
References
Doudoroff, P. and D
. L Shumway, "Dissolved Oxygen Requirements of Freshwater Fishes,"
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Technical Paper No . 86, 291 pp.,
1970.
Fry, F . E. J.,
'The Aquatic Respiration of Fish," M E Brown, ed ., The Physiology of Fishes,
Volume I-Metabolism, New York, Academic Press, 1957 .
Jones, J. R. E.,
Fish
and
River Pollution, Butterworths, London, 1964
.
