Former land use
The EPA counts more than 450,000 brownfield sites across the United States, properties where past use left contamination behind.
Many now sit under homes, schools, parks, and gardens. The ground keeps a record of what happened on it, and much of what was spilled, buried, or sprayed decades ago does not break down on any timeline that matters to the people living there now.
Former land use is the exposure you inherit. You did not create it, you often cannot see it, and it shapes what sits in the soil your family touches every day.
How do I find out what my land was used for before?
Check local property records, old maps, and city directories at your county office or library. State environmental agencies and EPA databases, including the brownfields and Superfund lists, are searchable by location and often reveal past industrial or commercial uses.
What is a brownfield?
A property where past use left contamination that complicates redevelopment. The EPA counts more than 450,000 brownfield sites nationwide, and many have been cleaned and rebuilt into housing, parks, and other everyday spaces.
Which former uses leave the most contamination?
Gas stations and auto shops leave petroleum and lead, dry cleaners leave chlorinated solvents, orchards leave arsenic and lead, and factories leave heavy metals and PCBs. Landfills and fill sites can hold a mix of all of these.
Why does old contamination still matter decades later?
Because it does not break down. The EPA notes that lead does not degrade over time, and heavy metals like arsenic bind to soil particles and stay in the top few inches for generations, long after the original business is gone.
How would soil contamination actually reach my family?
Mainly through dust and food. Bare soil becomes dust that drifts indoors and settles where hands pick it up, and plants can absorb metals through their roots. Solvents can also release vapors that rise through a foundation into indoor air.
Is it safe to garden in soil with an unknown history?
Only after you test it. A state or university extension lab can screen for lead and arsenic for a modest fee. If metals are present, grow food in raised beds filled with clean imported soil instead.
Who is most at risk from contaminated soil?
Children. The CDC says there is no safe level of lead exposure for kids, and young children absorb metals more easily and spend more time in contact with soil and floor dust than adults do.
What is vapor intrusion and should I worry about it?
It is when chemicals like dry cleaning solvents move up through soil and enter a home as vapor through the foundation. If your property sits near a former dry cleaner or industrial site, have a professional test your indoor air rather than measuring it yourself.
What former land use means
Every property has a history. Before a house was built, a lot may have held a gas station, a factory, a farm, an auto shop, or a landfill, and each of those uses can leave a chemical signature in the soil that outlasts the business itself.
That signature matters because soil holds contamination in place. Unlike air, which moves, or water, which flows through and away, soil concentrates what lands on it and keeps it in the top few inches where people make contact. The EPA notes that lead, one of the most common soil contaminants, does not degrade over time. What a lot absorbed 50 years ago can still be there when a child plants a garden or plays in the yard today.
The most common contamination sources
A handful of former uses account for most residential soil contamination, and each leaves a distinct set of chemicals behind.
Gas stations and auto shops leave petroleum, benzene, and lead from decades of fuel handling and old underground storage tanks. The EPA has tracked more than 570,000 confirmed releases from leaking underground storage tanks nationwide, many at sites long since redeveloped. Dry cleaners leave chlorinated solvents, especially perchloroethylene, a chemical that seeps deep into soil and groundwater and lingers for years. Orchards and farmland leave arsenic and lead from lead arsenate, a pesticide sprayed widely on fruit trees until the 1980s, which the USGS reports still contaminates soil in former orchard regions. Industrial sites leave heavy metals, PCBs, and solvents tied to whatever was manufactured there. Landfills and fill sites leave a mix of everything dumped or hauled in, sometimes including construction debris laced with lead paint and asbestos.
How contamination moves and persists
Soil contamination does not stay perfectly still, and it does not fade on its own. Heavy metals like lead and arsenic bind to soil particles and remain in the top layer for generations, because nothing in ordinary weather breaks them down.
The exposure happens when that soil becomes something you can breathe or swallow. Bare, dry soil turns to dust, and dust drifts indoors, settling on floors and surfaces where hands pick it up. The CDC identifies contaminated soil and dust as a leading route of lead exposure in children, who put hands and objects in their mouths. Solvents behave differently. Chemicals like perchloroethylene can sink through soil into groundwater and release vapors that rise through a foundation into the air of a home, a process the EPA calls vapor intrusion. Food grown in contaminated soil adds another path, since plants can take up metals through their roots.
What former land use means for your health
The health effect depends on the contaminant, and the most common ones carry well-documented risks. Lead is the clearest concern. The CDC states there is no safe level of lead exposure for children, and even low levels are linked to lower IQ, attention problems, and slowed development.
Arsenic, common in former orchard soil, is a known human carcinogen tied to skin, bladder, and lung cancer with long-term exposure, according to the EPA. Chlorinated solvents from dry cleaners can affect the liver, kidneys, and nervous system, and some are classified as likely carcinogens. Petroleum compounds like benzene, common at former fuel sites, are linked to blood disorders and leukemia. Children face the highest risk across nearly every contaminant, because they take in more relative to their body size, absorb metals more readily, and spend more time in contact with soil and floor dust.
What a household can do
Learn the history first, because it costs nothing and tells you where to focus. Local property records, old fire insurance maps, city directories, and state environmental databases can reveal whether a lot once held a gas station, factory, or orchard. The EPA maintains public databases, including its brownfields and Superfund site lists, searchable by location.
Test the soil if the history raises a flag. A state or university extension lab can screen for lead, arsenic, and other metals for a modest fee, and the results tell you what you are actually dealing with rather than what you fear. Cover bare soil near the house with mulch, grass, or clean fill so it cannot become dust, and take shoes off at the door to keep soil out of the home. Before planting food, test the ground, and if metals are present, build raised beds with clean imported soil. Wash produce thoroughly, keep young children off exposed dirt near older buildings, and if you suspect solvents or vapor intrusion, have a professional test indoor air rather than trying to measure it yourself.
Have questions about the environment inside your home?
Air quality, mold, EMF, light and water all shape how a house feels and how the people in it feel. Whatever your concern is, the first step is finding out what is there.
Our certified team of environmental professionals and advocates can help.