cleanup · Niagara County
Niagara Sanitation / Nash Road Landfill
Wheatfield
Former landfill that accepted municipal refuse and industrial wastes, including caustic material and sludges, from regional manufacturers and the former air base. The site remains under an approved operation, maintenance, and monitoring program.
The documented story
What happened here?
The Niagara Sanitation Company operated the Nash Road landfill in Wheatfield from 1964 to 1968 on land DEC describes as formerly swampy. The disposal area covers roughly 18.7 acres within a town-owned parcel and is now bordered by residential and other developed properties.
The landfill received municipal refuse and industrial wastes, including caustic materials and sludges. DEC records identify the Niagara Falls Air Force Base, Bell Aerospace, Carborundum, Frontier Chemical, Graphite Specialties, Continental Can, and Greif Brothers among documented users.
Shortly before closure, material excavated during LaSalle Expressway sewer work near Love Canal was taken to Nash Road. That material is one documented waste stream within a larger mixed landfill; it does not make every part of the landfill or every neighboring parcel equivalent to Love Canal.
A neighborhood play area concealed a four-year industrial dumping history
Nash Road connected a swamp, an unfenced dump, industrial Niagara, and buried excavation waste
1964-1968documented operating period of the landfill
1964-1968
A short operating period accumulated a complicated waste history
DEC records identify municipal refuse, caustic material, plating sludge, and industrial waste from the former air base, Bell Aerospace, Carborundum, Frontier Chemical, Graphite Specialties, Continental Can, Greif Brothers, and other users.
1968
Highway excavation moved another waste stream to Nash Road
Approximately 1,600 cubic yards from sewer relocation near Love Canal were placed in a deep trench shortly before closure. Records identified chlorotoluenes, benzoyl chloride, and benzoic acid in that material. It was one documented stream within a larger mixed landfill.
1981-1989
Investigators encountered a dump that had become informal recreation land
A county inspection reported poor cover, exposed refuse, and stained or discolored soil. A later state investigation described unrestricted access and use for jogging, dirt bikes, and general play, with homes immediately south along Forbes Street.
2014-present
A focused excavation did not close the larger environmental story
The identified Love Canal-area material was removed and shipped away for disposal. The town-owned landfill continued under investigation, monitoring, maintenance, and institutional controls, while adjacent-property sampling generated a separate public debate.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
Plans advance to excavate a buried waste stream at Nash Road
Local reporting explained that material excavated near Love Canal during 1968 highway work had been identified within the Wheatfield landfill and would be isolated and removed.
Niagara Frontier Publications archive ↗State investigators sample yards beside the former landfill
DEC offered surface-soil sampling to immediately adjacent Forbes Street properties after renewed community concern about conditions beyond the landfill boundary.
Spectrum News archive ↗Chronology
Timeline
- 1964-1968
Niagara Sanitation operated the property for municipal and industrial waste disposal.
- 1968
Sewer-excavation material from near Love Canal was placed at the landfill shortly before it closed and passed to Town of Wheatfield ownership.
- 1981-1989
Local and state investigations recorded exposed refuse and evaluated waste, soil, groundwater, surface water, and landfill boundaries.
- 2014-2015
Supplemental characterization refined the western waste extent, and about 1,600 cubic yards of the documented Love Canal-related material was removed.
- 2016-2019
DEC reclassified and investigated the site under the state cleanup program, including a detailed remedial investigation.
- Present
The town-owned landfill operates under an approved operation, maintenance, monitoring, and institutional-control program.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- The landfill accepted both ordinary refuse and documented industrial chemical wastes.
- Caustic materials and industrial sludges created contamination concerns beyond a typical sanitary landfill.
- Nearby homes require careful boundary mapping without labeling the entire neighborhood as landfill.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Removal addressed the specifically documented Love Canal-related material; the broader municipal-industrial landfill remains managed in place.
- Groundwater and other environmental media are sampled under the approved monitoring plan.
- Inspections, maintenance, and land-use controls protect capped or controlled areas.
Then and now
The site today
Niagara Sanitation remains a managed former landfill. Site-specific monitoring and mapped waste limits should guide present-day conclusions; nearby residential parcels must not be characterized as disposal areas without direct evidence.