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Is Portsmouth, VA tap water safe?

City of Portsmouth serves Portsmouth, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and CDC’s records show for it, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

City of Portsmouth serves Portsmouth. In EPA’s and CDC’s records it has nothing above a health goal, and no health-based violation since 2016.

That data covers what its report lists, not everything.

Some homes in a town are on private wells or a small system of their own. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours.

Water testing near Portsmouth

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab Virginia certifies.

The 3 labs Virginia certifies closest to Portsmouth, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic Environmental Laboratory

    Norfolk, VA · about 5 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (757) 341-0473

  • HRSD Central Environmental Laboratory

    Virginia Beach, VA · about 11 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, radioactivity

    (757) 460-7220

  • Universal Laboratories - Hampton

    Hampton, VA · about 16 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, metals, minerals and other inorganics, disinfection byproducts

    (757) 865-0880

Virginia Household Water Quality Program, Virginia Cooperative Extension: Drinking water clinics in about 70 counties a year, run through local Extension offices: pick up a kit, collect the sample on the set day, and drop it off locally. Each kit tests well, spring or cistern water for 28 things, including bacteria, nitrate, lead and arsenic. $70 a kit, with funding to help if you need it. Virginia Household Water Quality Program.

All 145 certified labs for Virginia

ZIP codes in Portsmouth

Which ZIP codes are in Portsmouth: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: DCLS, drinking water laboratories with certification detail; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Portsmouth

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

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