cleanup · Niagara County
Old Upper Mountain Road Landfill
Lockport
Former municipal disposal area reportedly used from 1921 through the 1950s. Municipal refuse, incinerator ash and industrial material were placed in a ravine; the state remedy addresses landfill material together with affected Gulf Creek sediment and floodplain soil.
The documented story
What happened here?
From about 1921 through the 1950s, Lockport used the edge of a steep ravine as a municipal dump. Garbage and incinerator ash were burned or pushed over the plateau toward Gulf Creek, and local companies also reportedly discarded material there. Later investigation found ash more than 36 feet thick in places and samples that failed the hazardous-waste leaching limit for lead.
This was never only an upland dump. Gulf Creek emerges from a culvert below the fill and runs toward Eighteenmile Creek, while bedrock groundwater converges on the former ravine. DEC documented VOCs, PAHs, pesticides, and metals in waste and found related contamination in creek water, sediment, and floodplain soil, making the ravine itself a contaminant pathway.
The buried Gulf Interceptor sewer made that pathway harder to repair. New York first relocated roughly 5,000 feet of combined sewer away from the waste and creek, then began the landfill and Gulf Creek remedy in March 2023. Excavated ash, glass, slag, municipal and industrial waste, sediment, and floodplain soil were treated for handling and consolidated beneath a new on-site containment cover.
A ravine landfill became a creek, floodplain, and sewer-infrastructure remedy
Lockport pushed refuse and incinerator ash into a ravine above Gulf Creek
1921-1950sreported municipal-landfill operating period
1921-1950s
The landform itself became the disposal system
Municipal waste and ash were placed down the ravine, with records also describing local industrial disposal. Filling altered the slope and created a direct physical relationship between buried waste and Gulf Creek.
Investigation and 2022 design
The remedy expanded from waste to water infrastructure
DEC documented landfill material, affected sediment, floodplain soil, wetlands, and an aging Gulf Interceptor that contributed unintended sewage or stormwater discharges.
2023-current construction
Excavation and containment are rebuilding the ravine and creek edge
Selected waste, sediment, and floodplain soil were excavated, consolidated in engineered containment or sent to approved disposal. Creek restoration, sewer coordination, cover, and long-term management complete the designed system.
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.
New York relocates a combined sewer out of the dump and Gulf Creek
Roughly 5,000 feet of the Gulf Interceptor were rerouted before landfill excavation, separating active sewer infrastructure from a ravine filled with waste and opening the creek corridor for remediation.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Crews begin excavating the dump, floodplain, and Gulf Creek sediment
DEC reported that ash, glass, slag, municipal and industrial waste, and affected creek material were being excavated and consolidated in an engineered cell; the dated update placed construction at about 60 percent before winter shutdown.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗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
- 1921–1950s
The ravine reportedly received municipal refuse, incinerator ash and some industrial material.
- 1997–2011
Sampling and investigation documented deep ash and mixed waste, hazardous lead, and contaminated Gulf Creek water, sediment, and floodplain soil.
- Fall 2022
The state completed relocation of the Gulf Interceptor sewer away from the landfill and creek corridor.
- 2022
The final engineering design described excavation, creek work, containment and infrastructure coordination.
- 2023
Major remedial construction began, including excavation and consolidation work.
- December 2023 record
DEC reported the remedial construction about 60 percent complete before a winter pause; later final quantities and completion status still require published closeout documentation.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Waste fill included incinerator ash, municipal refuse, glass, slag, and industrial material; ash reached more than 36 feet thick in investigated areas.
- Lead-bearing hazardous waste and VOCs, PAHs, pesticides, and metals affected waste or soil, with contaminants also documented in Gulf Creek surface water and sediment.
- The former ravine directs groundwater and drainage toward Gulf Creek, which reaches Eighteenmile Creek about a mile downstream.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The Gulf Interceptor was rerouted before major waste excavation so sewer flows no longer crossed the remedial work zone.
- Waste, affected sediment, and floodplain soil were excavated; suitable material was amended with limestone cement and consolidated within an engineered containment cell, while other material followed approved off-site disposal routes.
- A final cover, creek and habitat restoration, passive seep treatment, floodplain work, monitoring, and long-term site management form the containment system.
Then and now
The site today
This remains an active cleanup story in the public record available to WNYAtlas. The December 2023 update documented substantial construction but not final completion, so the page preserves that dated milestone instead of turning a projected 2024 finish into an unsupported present-day claim.
Atlas connections
Connected places
These collections explain documented material, facility, waterway, ownership, or cleanup relationships. Inclusion does not imply that every place shares one contaminant source or plume.
Lockport industrial and disposal history
Automotive manufacturing, battery production, chemical processing, municipal disposal, and canal-side industry created several separately managed cleanup sites around Lockport.
The closed landfill represents the city's long-term disposal and containment history.
Automotive manufacturingHarrison Radiator Division, GMCHarrison Radiator preserves the environmental record of a major regional automotive employer.
Battery manufacturingElectruk BatteryElectruk adds a smaller controlled industrial property with an environmental easement.
Manufactured-gas plantTransit Street Former Manufactured-Gas PlantTransit Street represents the city's earlier gas-manufacturing infrastructure and recurring MGP contaminants.
Creek and sediment corridorEighteen Mile Creek Superfund SiteEighteenmile Creek links multiple Lockport source areas to a much longer sediment-cleanup record.
Ravine landfill and creek cleanupOld Upper Mountain Road LandfillThe former municipal disposal area connects Lockport's waste history with documented Gulf Creek sediment, floodplain and sewer-infrastructure work.
Former quarry landfillVanchlor Company LandfillThe capped Mill Street landfill adds a separately managed chemical-manufacturing waste record within the broader Lockport industrial corridor.
Waterway connection
See the documented waterway record
The separate waterways map explains the documented relationship among the historic waterbody, fill or sediment, and this Atlas site without crowding the regional map.
Linked research mapGulf Creek, wetlands and culvert corridor →