Is It Safe to Grow Food in Portsmouth?
Federal record: HighWe checked the federal record around Portsmouth — 492 documented sites across 6 of the 8 site registers we track, 8 of them high-severity.
The most significant on record: 8 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Portsmouth carries one of the heavier federal records we track — 492 documented sites, most of them underground storage tanks. That's a record of the area's history, not a verdict on any one yard: proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis. Before food beds go in, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with — and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Documented sites nearest the Portsmouth center
- Cliff Berry Inc — Brownfields · ~0.6 km from the county center
- Cedar Point Citgo — Underground Storage Tanks · ~0.7 km from the county center
- Virginia Boat & Yacht Service — Underground Storage Tanks · ~0.8 km from the county center
These are the closest documented sites to Portsmouth's geographic center — a screening reference, not a reading on any specific address. Check your own Virginia parcel to see what's actually near you.
Check an Address in Portsmouth
Read your Portsmouth parcel
See exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources analyzed in seconds