Greenland, New Hampshire, operates under a critical environmental hazard designation due to an exceptionally high concentration of federal Superfund locations. Within a five-mile radius of the 03840 zip code, six active environmental remediation sites operate under federal oversight, expanding to nine sites within ten miles. Prominent among these is the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located just under five miles away, alongside other major facilities like Coakley Landfill and Pease Air Force Base. These locations are associated with unspecified hazardous substances that have historically leached into the local ecosystem. These chemical mixtures, often consisting of industrial solvents and toxic metals, migrate through soil and groundwater. Chronic exposure to these legacy pollutants affects residents by disrupting endocrine function, impairing neurological development, and increasing long-term carcinogenic risks.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard remains an active site on the EPA National Priorities List. Federal regulators are actively executing ongoing remediation phases, indicating that long-term cleanup operations, localized groundwater monitoring, and permanent contaminant containment remain underway and incomplete.

Given the dense proximity to these active contamination zones, Greenland residents must implement immediate environmental safeguards. Residents relying on municipal or private water should test well water annually for heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and industrial chemicals using state-certified environmental laboratories. Furthermore, households should install certified reverse osmosis filtration systems for all domestic drinking water supplies to aggressively mitigate potential ingestion risks. Residents should also regularly monitor EPA regional advisory boards for critical real-time updates regarding shifting groundwater migration plumes and vapor intrusion warnings affecting local bedrock aquifers.