John Therriault
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph
Suite 11-500
Chicago, Illinois 60601
RECEIVED
CLERK'S OFFICE
JUN 1 7 2008
STATE OF ILLINOIS
Pollution Control Board
Subject: IPCB Docket R08-9
June 16, 2008
To the members of the Illinois Pollution Control Board:
I would like to urge you to delay any decisions in this rulemaking until it is certain that
standards proposed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will result in a
significant and meaningful public health or environmental benefit. It is my understanding
that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago is conducting studies
that will enable you to have a scientific basis to determine whether the proposed standards
will benefit the health of people recreating on the waterways and whether their
implementation will result in further improvements to aquatic life uses of the waterways.
I understand that the costs of meeting the proposed standards are high and will be borne by
taxpayers, and I want to make sure that we are not diverting tax dollars for unnecessary
projects that may not provide any benefit to the taxpayers or the environment. In fact,
requiring the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to disinfect its water reclamation plant
effluents along with providing more dissolved oxygen to the waterways, will result in an
increase in greenhouse gas emissions which may be the biggest threat currently facing our
environment.
It is my understanding that the current water quality standards have been in effect for decades
and that, while they haven't changed, water quality has improved thanks to the initiatives
undertaken by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. It seems obvious to me that
water quality will continue to improve as it has over the past decades, especially as the
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District completes the deep tunnel project reservoirs in the
near future.
I urge you to thoroughly consider these matters, along with the Metropolitan Water
Reclamation District studies prior to deliberating on this rulemaking. Unless the new studies
demonstrate otherwise, I don't think we should try to fix what isn't broken, especially at
high
cost to the taxpayers when the "fix" may cause real environmental damage.
Sincerely,
Laverne Gooday
6940 Coachwood Trail
Tinley Park, IL 60477