Full Text of HJR0013 95th General Assembly
HJ0013 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HJ0013 |
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Compliance with the requirements of the National | 3 |
| Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and the effects | 4 |
| of surface discharging private sewage disposal systems on | 5 |
| communities within the State are matters of extreme importance; | 6 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Illinois is mandated by the federal Clean Water | 8 |
| Act to adhere to and enforce the standards set forth by the | 9 |
| NPDES to protect the waters of the United States from | 10 |
| non-point-source discharges; and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, Failure of Illinois to enforce non-point-source | 12 |
| NPDES standards requires the federal Environmental Protection | 13 |
| Agency to withdraw from the Illinois Environmental Protection | 14 |
| Agency the authority to grant NPDES permits under State and | 15 |
| federal law; and | 16 |
| WHEREAS, Loss of NPDES permit standing could have a | 17 |
| devastating effect on jobs and water quality in Illinois; and | 18 |
| WHEREAS, Malfunctioning or improperly operating and | 19 |
| maintained surface discharging private sewage disposal systems | 20 |
| can pose serious health hazards; a surface discharging system | 21 |
| that is malfunctioning or improperly operating and maintained |
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| may contain raw sewage, which is not always obvious or visible | 2 |
| to the untrained eye and may contain disease-causing organisms, | 3 |
| such as bacteria and viruses that come from the digestive | 4 |
| tract, respiratory tract, and skin; diseases commonly | 5 |
| associated with improperly treated sewage include | 6 |
| Gastroenteritis, Shigellosis, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, and | 7 |
| Leptospirosis; and
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| WHEREAS, It is estimated that there are approximately | 9 |
| 139,500 surface discharging systems in Illinois, with the | 10 |
| potential of discharging nearly 70 million gallons of sewage | 11 |
| per day; current test results suggest that between 20% and 60% | 12 |
| of these systems are failing or have failed, indicating that | 13 |
| between 14 million and 42 million gallons of raw sewage could | 14 |
| be discharged daily; and
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| WHEREAS, There are geographic regions of the State in which | 16 |
| a surface discharging system is the only viable choice due to | 17 |
| the poor absorption qualities of the soil's high clay or rock | 18 |
| content; approximately 6,000 new surface discharging systems | 19 |
| are installed per year, increasing the number of additional | 20 |
| potentially failing systems by 1,200 to 3,600 per year; and | 21 |
| WHEREAS, A failing surface discharging system has the | 22 |
| potential to affect an entire subdivision or surrounding area; | 23 |
| in particular the discharge may become a tempting nuisance to |
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| neighborhood children and pets who may play in or around the | 2 |
| pooling discharge and, subsequently, become directly infected | 3 |
| or become the modes of transmission by tracking disease-causing | 4 |
| organisms into their homes; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 6 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 7 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is created the Joint Task | 8 |
| Force on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System | 9 |
| (NPDES) Compliance, which shall be charged with the following | 10 |
| tasks: | 11 |
| (1) examining the State's current compliance with | 12 |
| NPDES laws, rules, and guidelines, especially with respect | 13 |
| to surface discharging private sewage disposal systems; | 14 |
| (2) forming a reasonably complete picture of where in | 15 |
| the State surface discharging private sewage disposal | 16 |
| systems have been permitted and where they have not been | 17 |
| permitted; | 18 |
| (3) examining alternatives to surface discharging | 19 |
| private sewage disposal systems; | 20 |
| (4) examining what other states are doing to prevent or | 21 |
| phase out the allowance of surface discharging private | 22 |
| sewage disposal systems; and | 23 |
| (5) examining how Illinois can comply with national | 24 |
| NPDES laws, rules, and guidelines in such a way as to | 25 |
| minimize the financial impact upon Illinois homeowners who |
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| currently use surface discharging private sewage disposal | 2 |
| systems; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Joint Task Force shall consist of 8 | 4 |
| members, 2 of whom shall be appointed by the President of the | 5 |
| Senate; 2 of whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the | 6 |
| House of Representatives; 2 of whom shall be appointed by the | 7 |
| Minority Leader of the Senate; and 2 of whom shall be appointed | 8 |
| by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; and be | 9 |
| it further | 10 |
| RESOLVED, That the Joint Task Force shall meet initially at | 11 |
| the call of the Speaker and the President, shall select 2 | 12 |
| members as co-chairpersons, one from each political party, at | 13 |
| its initial meeting, and shall thereafter meet at the joint | 14 |
| call of the co-chairpersons; and be it further | 15 |
| RESOLVED, That the Joint Task Force shall report its | 16 |
| findings
to the General Assembly by filing copies of its report | 17 |
| with the
Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate no | 18 |
| later
than January 1, 2008; and that upon filing its report the | 19 |
| Joint Task Force is dissolved.
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