The political boundary datalayer is a polygon representation of town boundaries created from arcs developed from survey coordinates extracted from the 68-volume Harbor and Lands Commission Town Boundary Atlas for the 351 communities (cities and towns) in Massachusetts. The Atlas was published in the early 1900's and is maintained by the Survey Section of Massachusetts Highway Department. For communities with a coastal boundary, MassGIS has collaborated with Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the Department of Environmental Protection to complete a 1:12000 scale coastline. The boundary for the coastline was defined as being the upland side of tidal flats and rocky inter-tidal zones. Note that the 351 communities are the official municipal names, not including "villages" or other sections of towns.This datalayer was created for the purposes of providing an up-to-date polygon version of the town boundaries for the 351 cities and towns of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The legislative intent for some boundaries could not be mapped. Boundaries where that is true are identified in the attribute information. This layer contains multi-part polygons, one for each municipality. The coastline on this layer has been generalized for small-scale cartography and faster display in web map services.See the layer metadata for details.

MassGIS is working very closely with the State 911 Department in the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security on the Next Generation 911 Emergency Call System. MassGIS developed and is maintaining the map and address information that are at the heart of this new system. Statewide deployment of this new 9-1-1 call routing system was completed in 2018.Address sources include the Voter Registration List from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, site addresses from municipal departments (primarily assessors), and customer address lists from utilities. Addresses from utilities were “anonymized” to protect customer privacy. The MAD was also validated for completeness using the Emergency Service List (a list of telephone land line addresses) from Verizon.The MAD contains both tabular and spatial data, with addresses being mapped as point features. At present, the MAD contains 3.2 million address records and 2.2 million address points. As the database is very dynamic with changes being made daily, the data available for download will be refreshed weekly.A Statewide Addressing Standard for Municipalities is another useful asset that has been created as part of this ongoing project. It is a best practices guide for the creation and storage of addresses for Massachusetts Municipalities.Points features with each point having an address to the building/floor/unit level, when that information is available. Where more than one address is located at a single location multiple points are included (i.e. "stacked points"). The points for the most part represent building centroids. Other points are located as assessor parcel centroids.Points will display at scales 1:75,000 and closer.MassGIS' service does not contain points for Boston; they may be accessed at https://data.boston.gov/dataset/live-street-address-management-sam-addresses/resource/873a7659-68b6-4ac0-98b7-6d8af762b6f1.More details about the MAD and Master Address Points.Map service also available.

Visit this website for an explanation of the parcel's assessing info: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-property-tax-parcels#attributes-Through a series of joins, spatial joins and select by location with various datasets, the following key attribute fields were populated in the Municipal Properties dataset.Open Space/Conservation Land Attributes are: OS_ID OS_ID is a unique ID for polygons in the open space/conservation land database, [Fee_Owner], [Level_Protection], OLI_1_INT. For an explanation of the coded values used in these fields, visit: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-protected-and-recreational-openspace#attributes-Zoning info for the parcel is contained within [ZONECODE], [MinLot_ac], and [SubStd_Sz]. Zonecode assigned to a parcel is based on the location of the center point of the parcel. The minimum lot size is per the Town's zoning bylaws. Parcel's smaller than the bylaws minimum lot size were assigned a 'yes' value in the Substandard Size attribute column.The attribute [vacant] was assigned a 'yes' value if the assessor's Building Value > $0.00 for the parcel OR the parcel contained one or more structures per the MassGIS structures dataset.The attribute [conserved] was assigned a 'yes' value if the parcel's center point coincided with a parcel in the Dukes County Open Space & Conservation Land dataset.The attribute [AbutPot] Abutter Potential is assigned a 'yes' value if any of the following attributes contain a 'yes' value: [AbutMuni], [AbutOS], or [AbutVacPrv].The attribute [Notes] were manually added by the GIS staff based on local knowledge.Attributes dealing with Abutters: [AbutMuni] indicates if the municipal owned parcel abuts other municipally owned parcels. 'Abuts' are any parcels that thouch (share a boundary) or are within 40ft of each other. [AbutOS] indicates if the municipal owned parcel abuts a parcel which is open space/conservation land. [AbutVacPrv] indicates if the municipal owned parcel abuts a parcel which is vacant residential land. "Vacant Residential Land" was identified by the assessor's Use Code = 1300 or 1310 for the parcel.Identifying Neighbors: All municipal parcels were buffered 40ft and dissolved together. Then that resulting multi-part dataset was 'exploded' so each distinct polygon was represented by a distinct record in the attribute table. Each polygon was assigned an ID number. This output is the "Municipal Property Clusters".Via a Spatial Join, the respective Cluster (aka group ID) was assigned to the respective municipal parcel. Similarly, by finding the (a) Vacant Residential properties and (b) Conservation Land properties that intersected with the Municipal Property Clusters, the Cluster/Group ID was assigned to the respective vacant residential properties and conservation land properties. A & B each have a distinct dataset which is included in this bundle of data.By having the Group ID in the Municipal Properties dataset and the Vacant Residential and Conservation Land datasets ...let's say a parcel has a Group ID = 3 --> then you can find the abutters by finding the other Municipal Parcels with a Group ID = 3 AND look in the Vacant Residential attribute table for Group ID = 3 AND look in the Conservation Land attribute table for Group ID = 3 --AND then you have tons of info at your fingertips regarding that municipally owned parcel and its abutting vacant properties.

This political boundary layer is the most accurate representing the city and town boundaries in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.This datalayer has been created from latitude and longitude coordinates found in the 68-volume Harbor and Lands Commission Town Boundary Atlas. This Atlas series, and updates since it was published, describes the legal boundary for each of the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts.
These coordinates were recorded from surveys of the location of each boundary marker around the periphery of each community. Each survey was tied into higher order monumented survey control points. The Atlases also include detailed descriptions of each community's boundary and location maps for each of the original boundary marker locations. The original surveys were conducted in the 1890s. The Atlas series was published in the early 1900s and has since been updated by the Survey Section of the Massachusetts Highway Department with changes as they are approved by the legislature.MassGIS staff collaborated closely with staff from the Survey Section during the development of this data layer. MassGIS staff keyed the coordinates into a database; that data entry was double-checked by staff from the Survey Section. Staff from the Survey Section then converted the latitude/longitude coordinates to the NAD83 datum and also created a version of the coordinates in state plane coordinates with units of meters. MassGIS used the state plane coordinates to "generate" points in ArcGIS. Boundary arcs from the existing USGS-derived municipal boundary data layer were then snapped to the survey-derived points. The differences between the municipal boundary arcs digitized from those on the USGS quads and those created by snapping to the survey-derived coordinates are typically plus or minus 12 feet, although these differences are sometimes less and sometimes more. Some municipal boundary arcs (about 15% of the total) follow the edge of a road or rail right-of-way or a stream or river channel. In these cases, the new boundary arcs were "heads up" digitized based on features visible on the statewide 1:5,000 color orthos from imagery flown in 2001. For communities with a coastal boundary, MassGIS collaborated with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the Department of Environmental Protection to complete a 1:12,000 scale coastline.The boundaries are included in Esri's World Topographic Map through participation in its Community Maps program.City/Town names' labels are included in this service.(This service was published from a map document using the Web Mercator projection for the data frame.)For full metadata please see https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-municipalities

MassGIS has processed Massachusetts municipalities (cities and towns) from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 data release for Massachusetts to assist GIS users who may need access to these value-added datasets. These data are suitable for use with Census 2020 products and certain Census publications and demographics surveys created after 2020.See datalayer metadata.Map service also available.

Massachusetts Municipal Boundaries as a line map service. This line datalayer is the most accurate representation of Massachusetts' municipal (city and town) boundaries; it provides the legislatively authorized town boundaries for the 351 communities of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The legislative intent for some boundaries could not be mapped. Boundaries where that is true are identified in the attribute information. This layer contains linear features representing the boundaries, which may be differentiated by coastline, state line and inter-municipal lines.

This political boundary datalayer has been created from latitude and longitude coordinates found in the 68-volume Harbor and Lands Commission Town Boundary Atlas. This Atlas series, and updates since it was published, describes the legal boundary for each of the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts. These coordinates were recorded from surveys of the location of each boundary marker around the periphery of each community. Each survey was tied into higher order monumented survey control points. The Atlases also include detailed descriptions of each community's boundary and location maps for each of the original boundary marker locations. The original surveys were conducted in the 1890s. The Atlas series was published in the early 1900s and has since been updated by the Survey Section of the Massachusetts Highway Department (now The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) - Highway Division) with changes as they are approved by the legislature.

See full metadata

Massachusetts Cities and Towns - Yellow boundaries and official municipality name labels. Boundaries from survey-based coordinates. This map service is designed for use atop aerial imagery or other dark basemaps.See https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-municipalities for metadata.

Terms of UseData Limitations and DisclaimerThe user’s use of and/or reliance on the information contained in the Document shall be at the user’s own risk and expense. MassDEP disclaims any responsibility for any loss or harm that may result to the user of this data or to any other person due to the user’s use of the Document.This is an ongoing data development project. Attempts have been made to contact all PWS systems, but not all have responded with information on their service area. MassDEP will continue to collect and verify this information. Some PWS service areas included in this datalayer have not been verified by the PWS or the municipality involved, but since many of those areas are based on information published online by the municipality, the PWS, or in a publicly available report, they are included in the estimated PWS service area datalayer.Please note: All PWS service area delineations are estimates for broad planning purposes and should only be used as a guide. The data is not appropriate for site-specific or parcel-specific analysis. Not all properties within a PWS service area are necessarily served by the system, and some properties outside the mapped service areas could be served by the PWS – please contact the relevant PWS. Not all service areas have been confirmed by the systems.Please use the following citation to reference these data:MassDEP, Water Utility Resilience Program. 2024. Community and Non-Transient Non-Community Public Water System Service Area (PubV2024_7).IMPORTANT NOTICE: This MassDEP Estimated Water Service datalayer may not be complete, may contain errors, omissions, and other inaccuracies and the data are subject to change. This version is published through MassGIS. We want to learn about the data uses. If you use this dataset, please notify staff in the Water Utility Resilience Program (WURP@mass.gov).

This GIS datalayer represents approximate service areas for Public Water Systems (PWS) in Massachusetts. In 2017, as part of its “Enhancing Resilience and Emergency Preparedness of Water Utilities through Improved Mapping” (Critical Infrastructure Mapping Project ), the MassDEP Water Utility Resilience Program (WURP) began to uniformly map drinking water service areas throughout Massachusetts using information collected from various sources. Along with confirming existing public water system (PWS) service area information, the project collected and verified estimated service area delineations for PWSs not previously delineated and will continue to update the information contained in the datalayers. As of the date of publication, WURP has delineated Community (COM) and Non-Transient Non-Community (NTNC) service areas. Transient non-community (TNCs) are not part of this mapping project.

Layers and Tables:

The MassDEP Estimated Public Water System Service Area data comprises two polygon feature classes and a supporting table. Some data fields are populated from the MassDEP Drinking Water Program’s Water Quality Testing System (WQTS) and Annual Statistical Reports (ASR).

The Community Water Service Areas feature class (PWS_WATER_SERVICE_AREA_COMM_POLY) includes polygon features that represent the approximate service areas for PWS classified as Community systems.The NTNC Water Service Areas feature class (PWS_WATER_SERVICE_AREA_NTNC_POLY) includes polygon features that represent the approximate service areas for PWS classified as Non-Transient Non-Community systems.The Unlocated Sites List table (PWS_WATER_SERVICE_AREA_USL) contains a list of known, unmapped active Community and NTNC PWS services areas at the time of publication.

Production

Data Universe

Public Water Systems in Massachusetts are permitted and regulated through the MassDEP Drinking Water Program. The WURP has mapped service areas for all active and inactive municipal and non-municipal Community PWSs in MassDEP’s Water Quality Testing Database (WQTS). Community PWS refers to a public water system that serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.

All active and inactive NTNC PWS were also mapped using information contained in WQTS. An NTNC or Non-transient Non-community Water System refers to a public water system that is not a community water system and that has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves at least 25 of the same persons or more approximately four or more hours per day, four or more days per week, more than six months or 180 days per year, such as a workplace providing water to its employees.

These data may include declassified PWSs. Staff will work to rectify the status/water services to properties previously served by declassified PWSs and remove or incorporate these service areas as needed.

Maps of service areas for these systems were collected from various online and MassDEP sources to create service areas digitally in GIS. Every PWS is assigned a unique PWSID by MassDEP that incorporates the municipal ID of the municipality it serves (or the largest municipality it serves if it serves multiple municipalities). Some municipalities contain more than one PWS, but each PWS has a unique PWSID. The Estimated PWS Service Area datalayer, therefore, contains polygons with a unique PWSID for each PWS service area.

A service area for a community PWS may serve all of one municipality (e.g. Watertown Water Department), multiple municipalities (e.g. Abington-Rockland Joint Water Works), all or portions of two or more municipalities (e.g. Provincetown Water Dept which serves all of Provincetown and a portion of Truro), or a portion of a municipality (e.g. Hyannis Water System, which is one of four PWSs in the town of Barnstable).

Some service areas have not been mapped but their general location is represented by a small circle which serves as a placeholder. The location of these circles are estimates based on the general location of the source wells or the general estimated location of the service area - these do not represent the actual service area.

The service areas were mapped from 2017 to 2022 and may not include all current active PWSs. A list of unmapped PWS systems is included in the USL table PWS_WATER_SERVICE_AREA_USL available for download with the dataset and shown below. Some PWSs that are not mapped may have come online after this iteration of the mapping project; these will be reconciled and mapped during the next phase of the WURP project. PWS IDs that represent regional or joint boards with (e.g. Tri Town Water Board, Randolph/Holbrook Water Board, Upper Cape Regional Water Cooperative) will not be mapped, because their individual municipal service areas are included in this datalayer.

Some PWSs that are not mapped may have come online after this iteration of the mapping project; these will be reconciled and mapped during the next phase of the WURP project. Those highlighted (e.g. Tri Town Water Board, Randolph/Holbrook Water Board, Upper Cape Regional Water Cooperative) represent regional or joint boards that will not be mapped, because their individual municipal service areas are included in this datalayer.

PWSs that do not have corresponding sources, may be part of consecutive systems, may have been incorporated into another PWSs, reclassified as a different type of PWS, or otherwise taken offline. PWSs that have been incorporated, reclassified, or taken offline will be reconciled during the next data update.

Methodologies and Data Sources

Several methodologies were used to create service area boundaries using various sources, including data received from the systems in response to requests for information from the MassDEP WURP project, information on file at MassDEP, and service area maps found online at municipal and PWS websites. When provided with water line data rather than generalized areas, 300-foot buffers were created around the water lines to denote service areas and then edited to incorporate generalizations. Some municipalities submitted parcel data or address information to be used in delineating service areas.

Verification Process

Small-scale PDF file maps with roads and other infrastructure were sent to every PWS for corrections or verifications. For small systems, such as a condominium complex or residential school, the relevant parcels were often used as the basis for the delineated service area. In towns where 97% or more of their population is served by the PWS and no other service area delineation was available, the town boundary was used as the service area boundary. Some towns responded to the request for information or verification of service areas by stating that the town boundary should be used since all or nearly all of the municipality is served by the PWS.

Sources of information for estimated drinking water service areas

The following information was used to develop estimated drinking water service areas:

EOEEA Water Assets Project (2005) water lines (these were buffered to create service areas)Horsely Witten Report 2008Municipal Master Plans, Open Space Plans, Facilities Plans, Water Supply System Webpages, reports and online interactive mapsGIS data received from PWSDetailed infrastructure mapping completed through the MassDEP WURP Critical Infrastructure InitiativeIn the absence of other service area information, for municipalities served by a town-wide water system serving at least 97% of the population, the municipality’s boundary was used. Determinations of which municipalities are 97% or more served by the PWS were made based on the Percent Water Service Map created in 2018 by MassDEP based on various sources of information including but not limited to:The Winter population served submitted by the PWS in the ASR submittalThe number of services from WQTS as a percent of developed parcelsTaken directly from a Master Plan, Water Department Website, Open Space Plan, etc. found onlineCalculated using information from the town on

This layer is the most accurate representation of Massachusetts' municipal (city and town) boundaries; this representation is based on the legislatively approved record of municipal boundaries.

This political boundary datalayer has been created from latitude and longitude coordinates found in the 68-volume Harbor and Lands Commission Town Boundary Atlas. This Atlas series, and updates since it was published, describes the legal boundary for each of the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts. These coordinates were recorded from surveys of the location of each boundary marker around the periphery of each community. Each survey was tied into higher order monumented survey control points. The Atlases also include detailed descriptions of each community's boundary and location maps for each of the original boundary marker locations. The original surveys were conducted in the 1890s. The Atlas series was published in the early 1900s and has since been updated by the Survey Section of the Massachusetts Highway Department (now The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) - Highway Division) with changes as they are approved by the legislature.

This hosted feature layer, with "Enable Sync" set, contains multi-part polygons representing inland and offshore areas, with one feature for each of the state's 351 municipalities.

View full metadata

The U.S. Geological Survey’s StreamStats program is a publicly-accessible web application (https://streamstats.usgs.gov) that can be used to delineate drainage areas, compute basin characteristics, and estimate flow statistics for user-selected locations on streams. StreamStats services are typically implemented at the statewide or watershed scale (referred to as state or basin applications), and although the three core functionalities remain consistent, many states have implemented custom tools to address specific water-resources planning and management needs. In Massachusetts, a watershed-scale application for the Mystic River Basin was developed to support stakeholder efforts to address stormwater challenges in this highly urbanized basin. The Mystic River Basin stormwater functionality was developed by incorporating 1-meter resolution lidar-derived elevation data and municipal storm drain data to accurately represent urban topography and stormwater flow (that is, subsurface piped flow). In the Mystic River Basin application, users can view the network of stormwater pipes and inlets, delineate drainage areas derived from lidar topography and stormwater infrastructure, and compute land-use/land-cover (LULC) basin characteristics. This data release contains the LULC data available in the Mystic River Basin StreamStats application as a Georeferenced Tagged Image File Format (GeoTIFF) raster dataset. This dataset was developed by processing Massachusetts 2016 LULC data (MassGIS, 2019) and Soil Survey Geographic data (SSURGO; NRCS, 2020) according to Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection guidelines to produce categories consistent with the 2016 Massachusetts Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) General Permit Pollutant Loading Export Rates for aggregated land uses (Schifman, 2022). References: MassGIS, 2019, 2016 Land Cover/Land Use: MassGIS Bureau of Geographic Information, accessed April 11, 2022, at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-2016-land-coverland-use. Natural Resources Conservation Service [NRCS], 2020, Soils Polygons for Massachusetts with "Top 20" Fields: MassGIS Bureau of Geographic Information, accessed December 1, 2021, at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-soils-ssurgo-certified-nrcs. Schifman, L.A, 2022, 2016 Massachusetts Small MS4 Permit Pollutant Loading Export Rates applied to the 2016 Massachusetts Land Use/Land Cover GIS Dataset: Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, 7 p., accessed May 23, 2022, at https://www.mass.gov/doc/2016-massachusetts-small-ms4-permit-pollutant-loading-export-rates.

The protected and recreational open space datalayer contains the boundaries of conservation lands and outdoor recreational facilities in Massachusetts. The associated database contains relevant information about each parcel, including ownership, level of protection, public accessibility, assessor’s map and lot numbers, and related legal interests held on the land, including conservation restrictions. Conservation and outdoor recreational facilities owned by federal, state, county, municipal, and nonprofit enterprises are included in this datalayer. Not all lands in this layer are protected in perpetuity, though nearly all have at least some level of protection.

Definitions of "Level of Protection" In Perpetuity (P)- Legally protected in perpetuity and recorded as such in a deed or other official document. Land is considered protected in perpetuity if it is owned by the town’s conservation commission or, sometimes, by the water department; if a town has a conservation restriction on the property in perpetuity; if it is owned by one of the state’s conservation agencies (thereby covered by article 97); if it is owned by a non-profit land trust; or if the town received federal or state assistance for the purchase or improvement of the property.Private land is considered protected if it has a deed restriction in perpetuity, if an Agriculture Preservation Restriction has been placed on it, or a Conservation Restriction has been placed on it.Temporary (T) - Legally protected for less than perpetuity (e.g. short term conservation restriction), or temporarily protected through an existing functional use. For example, some water district lands are only temporarily protected while water resource protection is their primary use.These lands could be developed for other uses at the end of their temporary protection or when their functional use is no longer necessary. These lands will revert to unprotected status at a given date unless protection status is extended.Limited (L) - Protected by legal mechanisms other than those above, or protected through functional or traditional use.These lands might be protected by a requirement of a majority municipal vote for any change in status. This designation also includes lands that are likely to remain open space for other reasons (e.g. cemeteries and municipal golf courses).None (N) - Totally unprotected by any legal or functional means. This land is usually privately owned and could be sold without restriction at any time for another use (e.g. scout camps, private golf course, and private woodland).More details...Feature layer is also available.

MassGIS has processed Massachusetts municipalities (cities and towns) from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 data release for Massachusetts to assist GIS users who may need access to these value-added datasets. These data are suitable for use with Census 2020 products and certain Census publications and demographics surveys created after 2020.See datalayer metadata.Feature service also available.

CSO attributes and location information are from a variety of datasets for each state: Connecticut: Beginning with GIS data compiled by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (“CT DEEP”) and displayed on their CSO Right-to-Know site (https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Municipal-Wastewater/Combined-Sewer-Overflows-Right-to-Know), EPA filtered the data for the purposes of this map and made corrections based upon updated information available in EPA’s files. EPA’s map only displays municipalities with CSO outfalls, whereas CT DEEP’s map includes municipalities with CSO-related bypasses at their Wastewater Treatment Facilities (but no Combined Sewer Collection System CSO outfalls). EPA’s map only displays CSO outfalls – the point at which CSOs are discharged to the receiving water - whereas CT DEEP’s map includes CSO regulators (the structure through which wastewater and stormwater exits the conveyance pipe towards the Wastewater Treatment Facility). Maine: Service containing both facility and outfall locations permitted under the Maine Pollution Elimination System (MEPDES) and administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MEDEP). The data has been collected using multiple methods over 2 decades under the direction of the Maine DEP GIS Unit. All location data was quality checked by MEDEP MEPDES Inspectors and GIS Unit staff in 2018. Massachusetts: Attribute and location information from a combination of MassDEP CSOs(https://mass-eoeea.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=08c0019270254f0095a0806b155abcde) (metadata - https://mass-eoeea.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=0262b339c2c74213bdaaa15adccc0e96) and NPDES permits(https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/massachusetts-final-individual-npdes-permits). New Hampshire: Active CSO outfalls collected from NH NPDES permits(https://www.epa.gov/npdes-permits/new-hampshire-final-individual-npdes-permits). EPA made corrections based upon updated information available in EPA’s files. Rhode Island: RI CSO Outfall Point Features. The outfalls managed by the Narragansett Bay Commission are downloadable from a GIS file through RIGIS (Rhode Island Geographic Information System https://www.rigis.org/datasets/nbc-sewer-overflows/explore?location=41.841121%2C-71.414224%2C13.57&showTable=true). Data was intended for use in utility facility engineering structure inventory. Last updated: 2019. Downloaded: 11/19/2021. Metadata (https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/2108bab269df47f988e59c18a556f37d/info/metadata/metadata.xml?format=default&output=html) Vermont: Attribute and location information from Vermont Open Geodata Poral (https://geodata.vermont.gov/datasets/VTANR::stormwater-infrastructure-point-features/explore?location=43.912839%2C-72.414150%2C9.29). Point, line, and polygon data was collected and compiled through field observations, municipal member knowledge, ortho-photo interpretation, digitization of georeferenced town plans and record drawings, and state stormwater permit plans. Accuracy of all data is for planning purposes and field verification is at the user’s discretion. VT Layer: Stormwater Infrastructure (Point Features) Metadata (https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/5c9875ee609c4586bd569dbacb2d92f1/info/metadata/metadata.xml?format=default&output=html).

Status layer to indicate whether MHC staff has completed digitizing the entire inventory for a specific town. The COMPLETE field stores a binary “y” or blank field to indicate the MHC municipal status. MassGIS stores and distributes this polygon feature class as MHCTOWNS_POLY. MassGIS projected the data to the NAD1983 Mass. State Plane Meters Mainland coordinate system.Provided to MassGIS on July 10, 2020.

The geographic extent of the town of Easton, MA and surrounding cities and townsTown boundaries were copied from MassGIS Data - Community Boundaries (Towns) from Survey Points (last update November 2015). Edits were made to remove coast lines of internal waterways. The boundaries of for Taunton, Raynam and Bridgewater were copied from MassGIS - Community Boundaries (Towns) Without Coast (February 2014). Boundaries were edited to match those from Community Boundaries from Survey Points.

The Town Halls layer stores the location of primary municipal executive offices in Massachusetts, including town and city halls. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) GIS Program in cooperation with the Regional Planning Agencies and participating communities developed the original version of this data layer. MassGIS revised the data using its master address database in spring 2017. Points were adjusted to fall atop building point locations.More details...Feature service also available.

Terms of Use:

Data Limitations Disclaimer

The MassDEP Estimated Sewer System Service Area Boundaries datalayer may not be complete, may contain errors, omissions, and other inaccuracies, and the data are subject to change. The user’s use of and/or reliance on the information contained in the Document (e.g. data) shall be at the user’s own risk and expense. MassDEP disclaims any responsibility for any loss or harm that may result to the user of this data or to any other person due to the user’s use of the Document.

All sewer service area delineations are estimates for broad planning purposes and should only be used as a guide. The data is not appropriate for site-specific or parcel-specific analysis. Not all properties within a sewer service area are necessarily served by the system, and some properties outside the mapped service areas could be served by the wastewater utility – please contact the relevant wastewater system. Not all service areas have been confirmed by the sewer system authorities.

This is an ongoing data development project. Attempts have been made to contact all sewer/wastewater systems, but not all have responded with information on their service area. MassDEP will continue to collect and verify this information. Some sewer service areas included in this datalayer have not been verified by the POTWs, privately-owned treatment works, GWDPs, or the municipality involved, but since many of those areas are based on information published online by the municipality, the utility, or in a publicly available report, they are included in the estimated sewer service area datalayer.

Please use the following citation to reference these data

MassDEP. Water Utility Resilience Program. 2025. Publicly-Owned Treatment Work and Non-Publicly-Owned Sewer Service Areas (PubV2024_12).

We want to learn about the data uses. If you use this dataset, please notify staff in the Water Resilience program (WURP@mass.gov).

Layers and Tables:

The MassDEP Estimated Sewer System Service Area data layer comprises two feature classes and a supporting table:

Publicly-Owned Treatment Works (POTW) Sewer Service Areas feature class SEWER_SERVICE_AREA_POTW_POLY includes polygon features for sewer service areas systems operated by publicly owned treatment works (POTWs)Non-Publicly Owned Treatment Works (NON-POTW) Sewer Service Areas feature class SEWER_SERVICE_AREA_NONPOTW_POLY includes polygon features for sewer service areas for operated by NON publicly owned treatment works (NON-POTWs)The Sewer Service Areas Unlocated Sites table SEWER_SERVICE_AREA_USL contains a list of known, unmapped active POTW and NON-POTW services areas at the time of publication.

ProductionData Universe

Effluent wastewater treatment plants in Massachusetts are permitted either through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) surface water discharge permit program or the MassDEP Groundwater Discharge Permit Program. The WURP has delineated active service areas served by publicly and privately-owned effluent treatment works with a NPDES permit or a groundwater discharge permit.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the EPA is the permitting authority for regulating point sources that discharge pollutants to surface waters. NPDES permits regulate wastewater discharge by limiting the quantities of pollutants to be discharged and imposing monitoring requirements and other conditions. NPDES permits are typically co-issued by EPA and the MassDEP. The limits and/or requirements in the permit ensure compliance with the Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards and Federal Regulations to protect public health and the aquatic environment. Areas served by effluent treatment plants with an active NPDES permit are included in this datalayer based on a master list developed by MassDEP using information sourced from the EPA’s Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS).

Groundwater Discharge (GWD) Permits

In addition to surface water permittees, the WURP has delineated all active systems served by publicly and privately owned effluent treatment works with groundwater discharge (GWD) permits, and some inactive service areas. Groundwater discharge permits are required for systems discharging over 10,000 GPD sanitary wastewater – these include effluent treatment systems for public, district, or privately owned effluent treatment systems. Areas served by an effluent treatment plant with an active GWD permit are included in this datalayer based on lists received from MassDEP Wastewater staff.

Creation of Unique IDs for Each Service Area

The Sewer Service Area datalayer contains polygons that represent the service area of a particular wastewater system within a particular municipality. Every discharge permittee is assigned a unique NPDES permit number by EPA or a unique GWD permit identifier by MassDEP. MassDEP WURP creates a unique Sewer_ID for each service area by combining the municipal name of the municipality served with the permit number (NPDES or GWD) ascribed to the sewer that is serving that area. Some municipalities contain more than one sewer system, but each sewer system has a unique Sewer_ID. Occasionally the area served by a sewer system will overlap another town by a small amount – these small areas are generally not given a unique ID. The Estimated sewer Service Area datalayer, therefore, contains polygons with a unique Sewer_ID for each sewer service area. In addition, some municipalities will have multiple service areas being served by the same treatment plant – the Sewer_ID for these will contain additional identification, such as the name of the system, to uniquely identify each system.

Classifying System Service Areas

WURP staff reviewed the service areas for each system and, based on OWNER_TYPE, classified as either a publicly-owned treatment work (POTW) or a NON-POTW (see FAC_TYPE field). Each service area is further classified based on the population type served (see SECTOR field).

Methodologies and Data Sources

Several methodologies were used to create service area boundaries using various sources, including data received from the sewer system in response to requests for information from the MassDEP WURP project, information on file at MassDEP, and service area maps found online at municipal and wastewater system websites. When MassDEP received sewer line data rather than generalized areas, 300-foot buffers were created around the sewer lines to denote service areas and then edited to incorporate generalizations. Some municipalities submitted parcel data or address information to be used in delineating service areas. Many of the smaller GWD permitted sewer service areas were delineated using parcel boundaries related to the address on file.

Verification Process

Small-scale pdf file maps with roads and other infrastructure were sent to systems for corrections or verifications. If the system were small, such as a condominium complex or residential school, the relevant parcels were often used as the basis for the delineated service area. In towns where 97% or more of their population is served by the wastewater system and no other service area delineation was available, the town boundary was used as the service area boundary. Some towns responded to the request for information or verification of service areas by stating that the town boundary should be used since all, or nearly all, of the municipality is served by one wastewater system.

To ensure active systems are mapped, WURP staff developed two work flows. For NPDES-permitted systems, WURP staff reviewed available information on EPA’s ICIS database and created a master list of these systems. Staff will work to routinely update this master list by reviewing the ICIS database for new NPDES permits. The master list will serve as a method for identifying active systems, inactive systems, and unmapped systems. For GWD permittees, GIS staff established a direct linkage to the groundwater database, which allows for populating information into data fields and identifying active systems, inactive systems, and unmapped systems.

All unmapped systems are added to the Sewer Service Area Unlocated List (SEWER_SERVICE_AREAS_USL) for future mapping. Some service areas have not been mapped but their general location is represented by a small circle which serves as a placeholder - the location of these circles are estimated based on the general location of the treatment plant or the general estimated location of the service area - these do not represent the actual service area.

Sources of information for estimated wastewater service areas:

EEOA Water Assets Project (2005) sewer lines (these were buffered to create service areas) Horsely Witten Report 2008 Municipal Master Plans, Open Space Plans, Facilities Plans, Wastewater and Sewer System Webpages, reports and online interactive maps GIS data received from POTWs and NON-POTWs Detailed infrastructure mapping completed through the MassDEP WURP Critical Infrastructure Initiative

In the absence of other service area information, for municipalities served by a town-wide sewer system serving at least 97% of the population, the municipality’s boundary was used. Percent served information and determinations of which municipalities are 97% or more served by the wastewater system were made based on the Percent Sewer Service Map created in 2018 by MassDEP based on various sources of information including but not limited to:

The number of services as a percent of developed parcelsTaken directly from a Master Plan, Sewer Department Website, Open Space Plan, etc. found online Calculated using information from the town on population served MassDEP staff estimateHorsely Witten Report 2008 or Pioneer Institute 2004 Calculated from Sewer System Areas Mapped through MassDEP WURP Critical

Parcel data analyzed are: Aquinnah FY24, Chilmark, FY24, Edgartown FY25, Oak Bluffs FY24, Tisbury FY24, and West Tisbury FY23.Visit this website for an explanation of the parcel's assessing info: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-property-tax-parcels#attributes-Through a series of joins, spatial joins and select by location with various datasets, the following key attribute fields were populated in the Municipal Properties dataset.Open Space/Conservation Land Attributes are: OS_ID OS_ID is a unique ID for polygons in the open space/conservation land database, [Fee_Owner], [Level_Protection], OLI_1_INT. For an explanation of the coded values used in these fields, visit: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massgis-data-protected-and-recreational-openspace#attributes-Zoning info for the parcel is contained within [ZONECODE], [MinLot_ac], and [SubStd_Sz]. Zonecode assigned to a parcel is based on the location of the center point of the parcel. The minimum lot size is per the Town's zoning bylaws. Parcel's smaller than the bylaws minimum lot size were assigned a 'yes' value in the Substandard Size attribute column.The attribute [vacant] was assigned a 'no' value if the assessor's Building Value > $0.00 for the parcel OR the parcel contained one or more structures per the MassGIS structures dataset.The attribute [conserved] was assigned a 'yes' value if the parcel's center point coincided with a parcel in the Dukes County Open Space & Conservation Land dataset.The attribute [AbutPot] Abutter Potential is assigned a 'yes' value if any of the following attributes contain a 'yes' value: [AbutMuni], [AbutOS], or [AbutVacPrv].The attribute [Notes] were manually added by the GIS staff based on local knowledge.Attributes dealing with Abutters: [AbutMuni] indicates if the municipal owned parcel abuts other municipally owned parcels. 'Abuts' are any parcels that thouch (share a boundary) or are within 40ft of each other (this accounts for parcels separated by 'paper streets'). [AbutOS] indicates if the municipal owned parcel abuts a parcel which is open space/conservation land. [AbutVacPrv] indicates if the municipal owned parcel abuts a parcel which is vacant residential land. "Vacant Residential Land" was identified by the assessor's Use Code = 1300 or 1310 for the parcel.Identifying Neighbors: All municipal parcels were buffered 40ft and dissolved together. Then that resulting multi-part dataset was 'exploded' so each distinct polygon was represented by a distinct record in the attribute table. Each polygon was assigned an ID number. This output is the "Municipal Property Clusters".Via a Spatial Join, the respective Cluster (aka group ID) was assigned to the respective municipal parcel. Similarly, by finding the (a) Vacant Residential properties and (b) Conservation Land properties that intersected with the Municipal Property Clusters, the Cluster/Group ID was assigned to the respective vacant residential properties and conservation land properties. A & B each have a distinct dataset which is included in this bundle of data.By having the Group ID in the Municipal Properties dataset and the Vacant Residential and Conservation Land datasets ...let's say a parcel has a Group ID = 3 --> then you can find the abutters by finding the other Municipal Parcels with a Group ID = 3 AND look in the Vacant Residential attribute table for Group ID = 3 AND look in the Conservation Land attribute table for Group ID = 3 --AND then you have tons of info at your fingertips regarding that municipally owned parcel and its abutting vacant properties.

The boating accessing data is hosted data from the MA Dept. of Boating and Fishing Access. The parcel data is hosted data from MassGIS. The MVC placed a filter on the data to only show those parcels within Dukes County which have an Owner Name containing the text "town of" -- with the intention to only show those parcels that are owned by a municipality. The Open Space & Recreation data is compiled by the Martha's Vineyard Commission with assistance from the Island Conservation Partnership.

The Massachusetts Coastal Zone data layer was compiled by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) to represent the Massachusetts coastal zone as defined in the October 2011 Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management Policy Guide ("Policy Guide"). Appendix 2 of the Policy Guide contains the most recent description of the official Massachusetts coastal zone and should be used in connection with the following two sources depicting maps of the boundary: (1) the CZM Coastal Atlas (Volume II of the 1977 Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program and Draft Environmental Impact Statement) and (2) this data layer developed by CZM to depict the coastal zone in digital map format. This boundary was created per the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972 (Public Law 92-583, 16 U.S.C. 1451-1456). The boundary description is the specification of the major roads, rail lines, other visible rights-of-way, or coordinates marking the inland boundary of the coastal zone. The actual boundary is 100 feet inland of the landward side of the described line, with the exception of municipal boundaries, where the municipal boundary is the limit of the boundary description. This dataset represents the actual boundary.Please see https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-coastal-zone-boundary for more details.\Map service also available.