cleanup · Niagara County
Bell Aerospace / Textron Impoundment
Town of Wheatfield
Former unlined surface impoundment at the Bell Aerospace/Textron facility near Niagara Falls International Airport. Rocket-test wash water, stormwater and solvent-bearing industrial drainage contributed chlorinated-solvent groundwater contamination. The pond was closed, and groundwater extraction, monitoring and enhanced bioremediation remain part of the long-term corrective-action record.
The documented story
What happened here?
Bell Aerospace used an unlined surface impoundment near its Wheatfield plant from 1948 to 1984. DEC records describe the pond as receiving rocket-engine test wash water, storm runoff and solvent drippings associated with cleaning, degreasing and anodizing.
The environmental history extends beyond the closed pond because chlorinated compounds moved into groundwater. The corrective-action record therefore includes both on-site and off-site groundwater recovery, monitoring and later tests of enhanced biological treatment.
Rocket testing had a wastewater landscape of its own
Bell Aerospace sent wash water and industrial drainage to an unlined impoundment
1 pondformer unlined impoundment central to the corrective-action record
1948-1984
Rocket testing and helicopter work shared one wastewater feature
The neutralization pond received pad wash water from rocket-engine test firings for decades. From 1966 to 1970 it also treated solvent drippings from helicopter rotor-blade bonding, along with stormwater and cooling water.
1987-1988
Closing the pond required excavation, not simply draining it
The closure removed about 1,225 tons of contaminated soil and capped the former impoundment. That action ended use of the surface feature but left a chlorinated-solvent groundwater plume requiring separate control.
Long-term corrective action
Extraction and bioremediation continue below the former surface feature
Groundwater recovery, monitoring, maintenance, and enhanced biological treatment remain part of the remedy. Annual reports evaluate system performance and plume conditions.
Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Chronology
Timeline
- 1948–1984
The unlined impoundment received industrial wash water, runoff and solvent-bearing drainage.
- 1987
The former pond was physically closed.
- 1993–1995
On-site and off-site groundwater extraction and treatment systems were constructed as corrective measures.
- 2017 onward
A bioremediation program tested subsurface amendments intended to accelerate breakdown of chlorinated compounds.
- Present
Annual monitoring, system review, maintenance and additional treatment evaluation continue in the DEC record.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- TCE and related chlorinated compounds affected groundwater beneath and beyond the former impoundment area.
- The record evaluates dissolved contamination and dense nonaqueous-phase liquid in a complex bedrock-groundwater setting.
- Metals associated with facility operations were also evaluated, but chlorinated solvents remain the central long-term groundwater issue.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The impoundment was closed and covered under the corrective-action program.
- On-site and off-site extraction wells collect contaminated groundwater for treatment.
- Monitoring wells, maintenance plans, access controls, land-use restrictions and soil-management requirements support the long-term remedy.
- Enhanced bioremediation supplements, rather than replaces, the extraction and monitoring record.
Then and now
The site today
DEC's current file shows a continuing management and monitoring program. The pin marks the regulated facility and former source area, not the full shape of a groundwater plume.