cleanup · Niagara County
Peters Dry Cleaning
Lockport
A 0.41-acre neighborhood dry cleaner at 316 Willow Street left a chlorinated-solvent plume requiring soil removal, demolition, groundwater treatment and vapor mitigation at a neighboring home. DEC now lists site 932128 as Class 4, with continuing site management.
The documented story
What happened here?
Dry cleaning began in the late 1930s or early 1940s on a small residential-neighborhood parcel near a city park. Tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry-cleaning solvent, and its breakdown products became the focus of the cleanup.
The 2015 decision describes shallow groundwater approximately 3.5–5.5 feet below ground, flowing northwest, with bedrock about 10–15 feet down. The site's environmental footprint extends beyond the former business building.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
2005
An early excavation removed approximately 30 tons of chlorinated-solvent soil as hazardous waste under DEC Spill 0475193.
2009–2013
Vapor mitigation was installed at the cleaner and an adjacent home in December 2009. The cleaner's building was demolished in October 2013 to permit investigation beneath it.
2014
A much larger excavation removed contaminated soil and six underground tanks. The 2015 decision reports 4,447 cubic yards; the 2025 plan instead records 462 tons of hazardous soil plus 3,985 tons of non-hazardous soil. These differently reported quantities are not a unit conversion.
2015
DEC selected enhanced biodegradation followed by monitored natural attenuation, with groundwater-use restrictions and continued vapor mitigation.
2023–2025
Biological amendments were injected in September 2023. The July 2025 management plan includes subsequent monitoring and December 2024 groundwater results.
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.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Historical soil PCE reached 1,900 mg/kg. The 2015 decision reports maximum total groundwater VOCs of 84,353 µg/L before excavation and 11,549 µg/L afterward in August 2014. These are historical monitoring results. DEC reported that the public water supply used a different, unaffected source.
- The 2025 plan reports December 2024 selected chlorinated VOCs totaling 1,936.6 µg/L at MW-101. Residual groundwater contamination remained primarily west and north of the excavation. The selected-compound sum should not be treated as identical to every earlier total-VOC measure.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Excavation addressed source soil; groundwater treatment promotes microbial breakdown of chlorinated solvents. An environmental easement restricts untreated groundwater use, and site management includes monitoring and maintenance of the neighboring home's vapor system.
- The 2025 plan reports that April 2025 vapor-intrusion sampling at four nearby residential properties did not warrant further action or additional sampling. This finding does not end the site's groundwater management obligations.
Then and now
The site today
DEC's map record, checked September 25, 2026, lists Peters as Class 4. This means remedial construction is complete with continuing operation, maintenance or monitoring. The Class 2 designation in the 2015 decision describes an earlier stage.
Field stop: view the 316 Willow Street frontage from a public sidewalk. The former building and subsurface plume cannot be read from surface appearance alone; respect nearby residents' privacy.
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.
Dry Cleaning & Chlorinated Solvents
Neighborhood businesses connect solvent use with groundwater and vapor cleanup. These are separate sites and remedies, not one shared plume.
Excavation, biological treatment and continuing management at a small residential-neighborhood site.
Pine Avenue vapor controlsTime 1-Hour CleanersBuilding and sewer work illustrates the complexity of vapor mitigation in a commercial and residential setting.
Buffalo neighborhood cleanupBestway CleanersA separate Seneca Street solvent investigation extending beyond the source parcel.
Canalside solvent cleanupStarlite Dry CleanersFormer cleaning operations left a separate soil and groundwater treatment problem.
Jamestown solvent historyC&B Dry CleanersA compact parcel with a consequential subsurface cleanup.
Separate Jamestown propertyAnderson CleanersRelated by the cleaning process, not evidence of a shared plume with C&B.
Shopping-center cleanupNorthtown Plaza / Former Dry CleanerPCE cleanup and vapor controls in a suburban commercial setting.