In Medina County, Ohio, a handful of families living near the former Montville Landfill are asking a question no parent should have to ask. They need to find out if the ground beneath their community is making their children sick. Their concern follows a string of cancer diagnoses reported by residents near the Wadsworth Road site. These include rare and pediatric cancers. The community’s concern is raised because of a landfill with a documented history of unlined waste disposal, hazardous material violations, and leachate contamination dating back to the 1980s.

The Medina County Health Department (MCHD) has reviewed county cancer data and reports no evidence, at this time, that cancer rates near the landfill are elevated above the countywide average. That finding matters, and it should be taken seriously. But it does not close the book on the questions families are raising, nor does not erase the decades-long regulatory history that makes this site worth scrutinizing closely.

A Landfill Built Before the Rules Existed

The Montville Landfill began operating in 1958, more than a decade before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created and long before modern landfill design standards required protective liners beneath buried waste. A hydrologist at Kent State University who has studied the site has explained that landfills built in that era simply were not engineered with today’s safeguards in mind. Without a liner separating buried waste from the soil and groundwater below it, contamination has a direct, largely unobstructed pathway into the surrounding environment.

That is not a hypothetical concern at Montville. Archived local news coverage from 1983 documented serious allegations about what was happening at the site, including reports that trucks hauling hazardous waste were seen entering the property and that roughly two decades’ worth of hazardous material had accumulated there. The same coverage reported that leachate, the contaminated liquid that forms as waste breaks down, was escaping the landfill at a rate of up to 18,000 gallons a day at one point, flowing into the West Branch Rocky River, a 36-mile waterway that begins in Montville. A state environmental official at the time was reported to have called it among the worst instances of stream pollution he had encountered.

Capped, But Not Contained

The landfill stopped accepting waste in 1985 and was formally capped and closed in 1995. Groundwater monitoring wells and a leachate collection system were installed as part of that closure. Under Ohio law, the site remains under Ohio EPA authority and is subject to ongoing post-closure care, including annual, semiannual, and quarterly inspections covering groundwater quality and explosive gas levels.

But a cap is not a cure. As the Kent State hydrologist who has studied the site has noted, closing a landfill does not make the waste underneath disappear, and monitoring data confirms that leachate is still being generated at Montville decades after closure. In 2022, a methane gas concern was identified at the site; MCHD has stated the issue was resolved without a threat to the public. Separately, Ohio EPA has flagged deficiencies in the landfill’s explosive gas monitoring plan in recent years, including questions about property boundaries, potential migration pathways, and nearby subgrade utility and residential lines. Those are precisely the kinds of gaps that determine whether a hazard travels off-site long before anyone notices.

What the Official Cancer Data Says, and What It May Not Capture

MCHD monitors cancer incidence countywide using the Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System (OCISS), the state database that Ohio medical providers have been legally required to report to since 1992. Reviewing data from 2015 through 2024, MCHD found that age-adjusted all-cancer incidence rates in the census tracts covering the Montville Landfill area were similar to countywide rates and, in the department’s assessment, did not warrant further investigation at this time.

That analysis has real value, and residents deserve to know what it says. It is also worth understanding what a countywide, all-cancer-type comparison can and cannot show. Combining every cancer type into a single incidence rate across a broad census tract can mask a smaller cluster of a specific or rare cancer type within a narrower radius of a suspected source, particularly when the population near that source is small. A finding of “no elevated rate” at the tract level and countywide is meaningful information, but it is not the same as a site-specific environmental and medical review of the families who live closest to the former landfill and who share a common water source, a common exposure history, or a common rare diagnosis.

The Families Behind the Numbers

Behind the statistics are real families who describe a common thread: a child or loved one diagnosed with a rare cancer, years of treatment and travel for specialized care, and a nagging sense that their community has too many diagnoses to be coincidence. One family featured in recent television coverage described a daughter diagnosed with a rare cancer at just six years old, followed by surgeries, cross-country trips for treatment, and years of fighting the disease. Families like hers are not claiming to have proven a scientific link. They are asking the officials responsible for their community’s water, soil, and air to look closely enough, and independently enough, to give them a real answer.

Why Institutional Accountability Matters Here

Cases like this rarely come down to a single bad actor. They come down to a chain of institutions, past and present, whose decisions accumulate over decades: the operators who ran the landfill for nearly three decades before modern liner requirements existed, the officials who allegedly allowed hazardous waste trucks onto the property despite public allegations as early as 1983, the regulators who approved the capping and closure plan in 1995, and the current oversight system tasked with catching problems like the gas-monitoring deficiencies Ohio EPA has flagged in recent years.

Institutional accountability in cases like this does not require proving that any single agency acted in bad faith. It requires asking whether the systems meant to protect a community, from landfill design standards to post-closure monitoring to public cancer surveillance, actually functioned as intended for the people living closest to the risk. A health department’s finding that county-level cancer data does not currently show an elevated rate is an important data point. It is not, by itself, a legal determination of whether a specific waste disposal history caused harm to specific families, and it is not a substitute for the kind of independent environmental testing, exposure reconstruction, and medical review that a legal case can pursue. Civil liability for hazardous waste contamination does not depend on a public health agency declaring a cluster first. It depends on the evidence of what was buried, what leached, who knew, and who was exposed, and that evidence can be developed and tested independently of any single agency’s public statement.

What Residents Near the Montville Landfill Can Do

Families who live near the former landfill and have questions about their health or their property do not need to wait for a government agency to change its position before taking steps to protect themselves and preserve information that may matter later. Residents with private wells can have their water tested for contaminants of concern by contacting MCHD at 330-723-9688, option 3. Residents served by municipal water are not drawing from the landfill area, according to MCHD, though questions about water source are always worth confirming directly with a local water provider.

It is also worth keeping records now, even informally: how long a family has lived in the area, any well testing results, any cancer or serious illness diagnoses among household members, and any communications with MCHD or Ohio EPA. Those records can become important later, whether the concern is followed up by public health officials, independent researchers, or legal counsel.

How Constant Legal Group Is Approaching This Situation

Constant Legal Group is closely following developments related to the Montville Landfill, including MCHD’s ongoing cancer data monitoring and any further Ohio EPA action on the site’s post-closure oversight. Our firm focuses on institutional accountability, holding the organizations and systems responsible for a community’s safety to account when they fall short, whether that involves a hazardous waste site, a pharmaceutical or medical device injury, or another catastrophic personal injury matter.

At this stage, no government agency has confirmed a cancer cluster or a contamination pathway connected to the Montville Landfill, and any family considering their legal options should understand that establishing a case connected to historic landfill contamination is a complex, fact-intensive process. If you or a family member has been diagnosed with cancer and has lived near the Montville Landfill area, or if you simply have questions about your rights and what independent options exist beyond the current public health findings, we welcome a confidential conversation. There is no obligation, and no assumption on our part about what your situation will ultimately show.

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Montville Landfill Cancer Concerns

Q: Has the Montville Landfill been confirmed to have caused cancer in Medina County?

A: No. The Medina County Health Department has reviewed county cancer data from 2015 through 2024 and reports that age-adjusted all-cancer incidence rates near the landfill are similar to countywide rates. No government agency has identified a confirmed cancer cluster or a confirmed contamination pathway connecting the landfill to any specific diagnosis.

Q: Why are residents concerned if the health department has not found an elevated cancer rate?

A: The landfill has a documented history of unlined waste disposal, alleged hazardous waste violations, and significant leachate contamination reported in the 1980s, and experts have confirmed the site continues to produce leachate today. Residents have also self-reported a number of cancer diagnoses, including rare and pediatric cancers, among families living near the site. Those two facts, a documented contamination history and community-reported illness, are why residents are asking for closer, independent review.

Q: Is my water safe if I live near the Montville Landfill?

A: Residents served by municipal water are not drawing from the landfill area, according to MCHD. Residents with private wells can request testing for contaminants of concern by calling MCHD at 330-723-9688, option 3.

Q: Do I need a confirmed cancer cluster before I can speak with an attorney?

A: No. A public health agency’s cluster determination and a legal claim are separate processes that can move on separate timelines. An attorney can help evaluate an individual family’s exposure history, medical history, and available evidence independently of what any single agency has announced publicly.

Q: What should I do if I believe my family’s health has been affected by the landfill?

A: Document your address history, any private well testing results, and any relevant diagnoses in your household. Consider having your well water tested if you have not already. Then consider speaking with an attorney who focuses on environmental and institutional accountability cases to understand what independent options may exist for your specific situation.