News Releases - 2003

Illinois EPA, Village of Wauconda Move to Terminate Village's Exemption from Disinfection of Its Wastewater Discharge

Springfield, Ill. -- The Village of Wauconda has asked the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to terminate a disinfection exemption it has held since 1990 that allows discharge of treated wastewater from its wastewater treatment plant into Fiddle Creek, a tributary of the Fox River, without first disinfecting the treated effluent.

Public notice and comment periods are required by state and federal regulations before any change to the village's discharge permit can be made. The village has been chlorinating its discharge and is doing routine sampling of the treated wastewater, as if the disinfection exemption were not in place. Tests to date by Wauconda, the Illinois EPA and the Lake County Health Department have shown the treated wastewater being discharged falls within state limits for the presence of fecal coliform, a bacteria that, when present, usually indicates contamination of surface water by contact with human or animal waste.

"Comments we received during the required comment period and the extended comment period, as well as public input during the Sept. 9, 2003, public hearing at Wauconda, indicated that this issue is a major concern with area residents. As a result, the Agency and the village have worked jointly toward a solution to remove the exemption from the existing NPDES permit," said IEPA Director Renee Cipriano.

The village of Wauconda's current plant operation practices have had the incidental effect of disinfecting its discharges and the village has agreed to have such practices required under a revised NPDES permit.

"The costs associated with the elimination of the exemption are minimal since the Village is already engaged in a chlorination/dechlorination process as part of its regular operations at the sewage treatment plant," said Dan Quick, Wauconda Village Administrator.

Wauconda has an application pending to modify its existing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to allow it to expand the wastewater treatment plant and treat an expected increase in wastewater sent to the plant by a growing area population. NPDES permits are federal permits designed to protect the water quality in receiving streams into which wastewater treatment plants discharge their treated wastewater. Illinois has been delegated by U.S. EPA to administer the program in Illinois.

In cases where receiving streams are not likely to be used for activities such as swimming, it is not unusual for a wastewater treatment plant to receive an exemption from a requirement to disinfect its effluent, at least during warm weather months. Wauconda's exemption was year-round, reflecting the unlikelihood of its recreational use at the time the permit and the exemption were approved.

The disinfection requirement, however, emerged as an issue during a public comment period and at a public hearing held to address concerns by local citizens who are concerned that the discharge from the expanded plant could impact water quality downstream in Fiddle Creek. Due to urban development over the past decade, Fiddle Creek is no longer remote from possible access by the public.

To ensure that all interested parties would have sufficient time to submit comments about the proposed amendments to the existing Wauconda permit that will allow the planned plant expansion, the comment period was extended by Director Cipriano. The extended period closed on Oct. 31. Comments are now being evaluated, and a response summary is being prepared that will address each of the areas of concern. The summary, and a final decision on the plant expansion, will be released when all comments have been addressed.