Ninemile Creek (Onondaga Lake) - History - Waste Beds

Waste Beds

The lower part of Nine Mile Creek (from Route 173 to Onondaga Lake) has been significantly affected by the construction and operation of waste beds containing byproducts from the production of sodium carbonate by the Solvay Process. The Solvay Process Company (later acquired by Allied Corp.) began production in 1886. Initially wastes from the process were deposited along the shore of Onondaga Lake. Starting in 1916, waste beds 1–6 were constructed on the shore of the lake in the vicinity of Nine Mile Creek, and the creek was diverted to the north around beds 5 and 6.

The beds along Nine Mile Creek near the lakeshore were abandoned after 1944 when a waste bed dike failed, causing flooding of portions of the Village of Solvay by the waste. A series of additional waste beds (beds 9–15) were then constructed along Nine Mile Creek upstreamof the lake. A portion of the creek was rerouted to allow construction of beds 9, 10, and 11.

The creek in this section shows an increase in pH and a decrease in phosphate concentration, due to the high alkalinity of leachate from the wastebeds.

A clean-up program is currently being conducted by Honeywell (the successor to Allied Signal) along the lower part of Nine Mile Creek and for Onondaga Lake under terms of a consent order with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Documents concerning the clean-up can be found here: Onondaga Lake Cleanup