News Releases - 2003

IEPA Grants Provisional Variance from Some Permit Limits to City of Polo to Allow Installation of New Unit in Treatment Process

Springfield, Ill. -- The Illinois EPA has granted a 45-day provisional variance to the rural community of Polo, in Ogle County, allowing it to exceed limits for three components of its wastewater discharge while equipment for part of the plant's secondary filtering process is replaced.

The community of 2,477 located northwest of Dixon has a wastewater treatment plant that processes approximately 0.3 million gallons per day of domestic sewage, discharging the treated wastewater into Buffalo Creek.

The provisional variance temporarily raises the allowed amounts of ammonia nitrogen, CBOD5 and suspended solids to be discharged from the plant above the limits specified in the community's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. CBOD5 refers to the five day carbonaceous biological oxygen demand, a measurement used to determine that sufficient oxygen is available to support aquatic life. NPDES permits are required under the federal Clean Water Act for activities that discharge to the waters of the state, including the operation of wastewater treatment plants.

After reviewing the petition, the Agency determined that environmental impact from the variance should be minimal, that no reasonable alternative appears to be available, no public water supplies should be affected, and that there are no federal regulations that would prohibit granting the request.

All other treatment processes will remain in operation during the work, and other NPDES permit limits will remain.

Though the variance runs from Oct. 14 through Nov. 27, delivery has been delayed on some of the parts needed for the repairs. Delivery is expected within a few days. If construction can begin by late November, the project should be completed by the deadline. If the deadline is not met, the community will have to request a new variance. Polo is required by terms of the variance to notify the Agency when construction starts and again when work is completed