Find data on drinking water quality in Massachusetts. This dataset shows drinking water exceedances for lead by Community Water System and year of exceedance in Massachusetts.

The Water Quality Monitoring Station data layer was compiled by staff within the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), Division of Watershed Management (DWM), Watershed Planning Program (WPP) to fulfill Federal Clean Water Act reporting requirements.The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) directs states to monitor and report on the condition of their water resources. The Water Quality Monitoring Stations data layer was compiled by MassDEP staff in fulfillment of CWA mandates. The stations data layer represents water quality monitoring locations sampled by WPP staff from 1983 to 2022.Four types of WPP monitoring stations are detailed below. Each station, stored as a single point in the data layer, represents a location that was sampled on one or more occasions during one or more years by WPP staff or their agents:Fish Toxics Stations: 1983-2022 (n=446); locations where whole fish were collected for subsequent tissue analysis of one or more contaminants. Coverage may include MassDEP Office of Research & Standards (ORS) Mercury Project sampling locations if also sampled by WPP.Fish Population Stations: 2005-2011 (n=177); locations where fish were collected, identified, measured, and released and where habitat quality conditions have been recorded. Locations for 2012-2022 sampling will be provided in a future update.Benthic Macroinvertebrate Stations: 1983-2022 (n=1290); locations where samples of benthic macroinvertebrates have been collected for subsequent subsampling and taxonomic identification and where habitat quality conditions have been recorded. (“Macroinvertebrate” is defined to include all aquatic members of the Annelida; all aquatic Mollusca; aquatic macro-Crustacea; aquatic Arachnida; and the aquatic life stages of Insecta—the exception being the Collembola, Hemiptera, and adult Coleoptera other than Elmidae).Water Quality Stations: 1994-2022 (n=3111); locations where water quality monitoring has been conducted, including one or more of the following data types: discrete or continuous in-situ probe measurements (e.g., dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, specific conductance); laboratory results for water samples (e.g., bacteria, nutrients, algal toxins, metals, organics); or general site observations. Note: for display purposes, stations are differentiated into two major types: Surface Water (e.g., River/Stream, Lake, Estuarine) or Discharge (e.g., Facility Industrial, Facility Municipal Sewage (POTW), Storm Sewer).Stations can overlap if they were monitored for more than one survey type.The water quality monitoring stations should be displayed with the MassDEP DWM WPP Watersheds data layer, which is included in this service. Those delineations are based on MassGIS 'Major Basins' layer but modified by WPP to reflect surface drainage areas used for the Massachusetts Integrated Report: Multi-part List of Waters (IR).Learn more about the WPP water quality monitoring program.See full metadata.Feature service also available.

This data release includes water-quality data collected at up to thirteen locations along the Merrimack River and Merrimack River Estuary in Massachusetts. In this study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, discrete samples were collected, and continuous monitoring was completed from June to September 2020. The data include results of measured field properties (water temperature, specific conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen) and laboratory concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus species, total carbon, pheophytin-a, and chlorophyll-a. These data were collected to assess selected (mainly nutrients) water-quality conditions in the Merrimack River and Merrimack River Estuary at the thirteen locations and identify areas where more water-quality monitoring is needed. The discrete samples and continuous-monitoring data are also available in the USGS National Water Information System at https://wate ...

This map service displays the spatial representation of the inland and coastal and marine waters described in the basin tables of the 2013 version of the Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards regulation (2013 MA SWQS, 314 CMR 4.00).The Surface Water Quality Standards (SWQS) Section in MassDEP’s Watershed Planning Program (WPP), Division of Watershed Management, is responsible for developing water quality criteria for surface waters and related policies; designating uses and associated classifications for surface waters; and implementing the MA SWQS regulation and policies that restore and prevent the degradation of surface waters. The criteria listed in the MA SWQS regulation are the foundation for MassDEP’s activities under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), including water quality monitoring and assessments, and the development of plans to restore impaired surface waters. Water quality-based effluent limits in permits issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and the Commonwealth’s Surface Water Discharge (SWD) programs are also derived from water quality criteria in the MA SWQS.More details...Map service also available.

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data release provides a comprehensive dataset of water-quality results, physical-parameter measurements, hydrologic measurements, and site information collected to study the nature and extent of water quality along groundwater flow paths adjacent to glacial-kettle lakes on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Water-quality samples were collected in 2003, 2005, and 2012 through 2018 in and near seven kettle lakes located on western Cape Cod, with most of the data collected in 2015-2017 from Ashumet Pond, which is located in the towns of Falmouth and Mashpee. Data were also collected at other lakes to compare the lake-specific influences of geochemistry and hydrology on the downgradient groundwater systems. Samples were collected over the course of multi-day and multi-month sampling events to capture the influence of annual and diel changes in the lakes. Water-quality results are presented for groundwater samples collected from monitoring wells and multilevel samplers (MLS) located downgradient from the lakes; shallow groundwater samples from beneath the lake bottoms (also referred to herein as porewater samples) collected near shore by using microwells, also known as pushpoints (manufactured by M.H.E. Products1), installed 5-100 centimeters below the lake-bottom surface into known groundwater upwelling and lake-water downwelling zones near the lake shore; grab samples of lake water collected in conjunction with the near-shore groundwater samples; and profiles of the lake water column collected in deeper parts of the lake basins. The data include field water-quality measurements of specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and alkalinity (incremental field titration method) using single-parameter field probes as well as multiprobe sondes; concentrations of samples collected for selected organic and inorganic solutes, including major cations and anions, minor elements, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, total dissolved nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, and dissolved inorganic carbon; concentrations of dissolved gases, including nitrous oxide and methane, absorbance of ultraviolet/visible light; stable isotopic ratios of carbon (delta 13C, d13C) measured in dissolved inorganic carbon; isotope ratios of oxygen (d18O) and hydrogen (d2H) measured in water; isotope ratios of oxygen (d18O) and nitrogen (d15N) measured in nitrate plus nitrite; and isotope ratios of oxygen (d18O) measured in dissolved oxygen gas. The data release also includes results from analyses of sediment-core material collected from the sediment surface to 30 centimeters below the lake bottom, and analyses of aquatic vegetation and biofilms on pebble surfaces in Ashumet Pond. The sediment-core results include total carbon and nitrogen content of dried organic material scraped from the pebbles, d13C and d15N of carbon and nitrogen of the organic matter, extractions of ammonium, and carbon dioxide and oxygen measurements used to estimate potential respiration rates from incubation experiments. The data are compiled into ten Excel (.xlsx) tables: (1) A summary of all the sampling event names and dates (Summary Sampling Events.xlsx), (2) sample information, field measurements, and results from laboratory water-quality analyses for environmental samples collected from monitoring wells, MLSs, lake-basin profiles, and near-shore pushpoints (Water Quality Samples.xlsx), (3) results from selected water-quality analytes for laboratory duplicates, laboratory blanks, and equipment rinseate samples (QAQC Samples.xlsx), (4) distance from shore and lake-stage measurements for Ashumet Pond pushpoint site ASHPD-GWOUT-R-N at select times used in a regression equation to estimate distance to shore, and measured distances between pushpoint, MLS, and well locations relative to site ASHPD-GWOUT-R-N (Distance Calculations.xlsx), (5) approximate water-level altitudes at monitoring well and MLS sites calculated from water-level measurements made at water-table wells concurrent to water-quality sampling (Approximate Well Water Level.xlsx), (6) carbon and nitrogen concentrations and d13C and d15N of sediment cores, aquatic vegetation, and pebble scrapings collected at Ashumet Pond (ASHPD Sediment.xlsx), (7) d18O of dissolved oxygen and water in selected groundwater samples (O2 Isotopes.xlsx), (8) details of experiments to measure potential rates of carbon dioxide and oxygen production and consumption in selected groundwater samples (CO2 & O2 Rates.xlsx), (9) sediment extractions of ammonium using potassium chloride in selected groundwater samples (KCl Extractions.xlsx), and (10) field water-quality measurements made using multiprobe sondes at Ashumet, Santuit, and Shubael Ponds (Continuous Sonde Data.xlsx). A data dictionary file describes the entities, attributes, reporting limits, uncertainties, minimum and maximum values, analytical instruments, methods, and citations for the tables (1-10) in the dataset (Data Dictionary.xlsx). This dataset is complemented by surface-water and groundwater temperature records and lakebed seepage data from in and near several western Cape Cod lakes, which are documented in the following data release: Hull, R.B., Briggs, M., LeBlanc, D.R., Armstrong, D.A., McCobb, T.D., Temperature and seepage data from the lake-bottom of groundwater flow-through kettle hole lakes, western Cape Cod, MA, 2015 - 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9QLIFWV. 1 Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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. 2025. Community and Non-Transient Non-Community Public Water System Service Area (PubV2025_3).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.ProductionData UniversePublic 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.Service areas were mapped initially from 2017 to 2022 and reflect varying years for which service is implemented for that service area boundary. WURP maintains the dataset quarterly with annual data updates; however, the dataset 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. 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.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 SourcesSeveral 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 ProcessSmall-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 areasThe 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 the population servedMassDEP staff estimateHorsely Witten Report 2008Calculation based on Water System Areas Mapped through MassDEP WURP Critical Infrastructure Initiative, 2017-2022Information found in publicly available PWS planning documents submitted to MassDEP or as part of infrastructure planningMaintenanceThe

This excel contains results from the 2017 State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed Technical Report (nbep.org), Chapter 18: "Water Quality Conditions for Aquatic Life." Water quality classifications were based on Massachusetts and Rhode Island Assessment Databases for 2014 (MassDEP 2015, RIDEM 2015). This assessment specifically focuses on causes of water quality impairment that are detrimental to aquatic life with an emphasis on nutrient enrichment and low dissolved oxygen. The Estuary Program re-classified water quality in four categories. The first, “Acceptable,” includes waters that fully support aquatic life, equivalent to a “fully supporting” determination by the states. Acceptable waters are generally not tested for all parameters that may affect aquatic life use. Information about the testing completed for each waterbody was unavailable. As a result, waters classified as “Acceptable” may not have been tested for nutrient concentrations or dissolved oxygen levels, and thus are not a direct proxy for those parameters. The second category, “Impacted by Nutrients/DO,” includes waters that are “not supporting” of aquatic life due to nutrient enrichment or depleted oxygen. To determine water quality conditions for aquatic life, the states also test many other parameters, such as toxins, that are unrelated to nutrients and dissolved oxygen. Thus, the third category included waters “Impacted by Other,” i.e., waters that were “not supporting” of aquatic life due to parameters other than nutrient enrichment or oxygen depletion. The fourth category was “Unassessed for Aquatic Life Use” which includes waters that are assessed by the states for other uses (e.g., Recreational Use), but not for Aquatic Life Use.

The Public Water Supply (PWS) datalayer contains the locations of public community surface and groundwater supply sources and public non-community supply sources as defined in 310 CMR 22.00. The public water supply systems represented in this datalayer are based primarily on information in the DEPs Water Quality Testing System (WQTS) database. The WQTS database is the Department?s central database for tracking water supply data. The PWS datalayer also contains the locations of proposed wells that have a defined DEP approved wellhead protection area (Zone IIs). Proposed sources are not currently tracked in WQTS. In ArcSDE the layer is named PWSDEP_PT. As stated in 310 CMR 22.02, a Public Water System means a system for the provision to the public of piped water for human consumption if such system has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days of the year. Such term includes (1) any collection, treatment, storage and distribution facilities under control of the operator of such a system and used primarily in connection with such system, and (2) any collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under such control which are used primarily in connection with such system. A public water system is either a community or a non-community water system. (a) Community water system means a public water system which serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents. (b) Non-community water system means a public water system that is not a community water system. 1. Non-transient non-community water system (NTNC) means a public water systems that is not a community water system and that regularly serves at least 25 of the same persons or more approximately four or more days per week, more that six months or 180 days per year, such as a workplace providing water to it?s employees. 2. Transient non-community water system (TNC) means a public water system that is not a community water system or a non-transient non-community water system but is a public water system which serves water to 25 different persons at least 60 days of the year. Some examples of these types of systems are: restaurants, motels, camp grounds, parks, golf courses, ski areas and community centers.

This layer is sourced from gisprpxy.itd.state.ma.us.

This data release includes water-quality data collected at 38 sites in central and eastern Massachusetts from April 2018 through May 2019 by the U.S. Geological Survey to support the implementation of site-dependent aluminum criteria for Massachusetts waters. Samples of effluent and receiving surface waters were collected monthly at four wastewater-treatment facilities (WWTFs) and seven water-treatment facilities (WTFs) (see SWQ_data_and_instantaneous_CMC_CCC_values.txt). The measured properties and constituents include pH, hardness, and filtered (dissolved) organic carbon, which are required inputs to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Aluminum Criteria Calculator version 2.0. Outputs from the Aluminum Criteria Calculator are also provided in that file; these outputs consist of acute (Criterion Maximum Concentration, CMC) and chronic (Criterion Continuous Concentration, CCC) instantaneous water-quality values for total recoverable aluminum, calculated for monthly samples ...

Stakeholders in western Boxborough, Massachusetts face serious water quality challenges due to drinking water contamination from road salt and wastewater discharge. The MassDEP and MassDOT are seeking a collaborative water solution to address these concerns. The goals of this project were to help research possible solutions and create public outreach materials for affected stakeholders to explain possible courses of action and facilitate collaboration. Collaborating with the town of Littleton to drill a new well and extend their water system into Boxborough was identified as most feasible. The project resulted in framework for stakeholders to continue to work towards finalizing a plan for collaborating with Littleton to help remediate water issues.

Link to the ScienceBase Item Summary page for the item described by this metadata record. Service Protocol: Link to the ScienceBase Item Summary page for the item described by this metadata record. Application Profile: Web Browser. Link Function: information

This data release provides data in support of an assessment of water quality and discharge in the Herring River at the Chequessett Neck Road dike in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, from November 2015 to September 2017. The assessment was a cooperative project among the U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore, and the Friends of Herring River to characterize environmental conditions prior to a future removal of the dike. It is described in U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Scientific Investigations Report "Assessment of Water Quality and Discharge in the Herring River, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, November 2015 – September 2017." This data release is structured as a set of comma-separated values (CSV) files, each of which contains information on data source (or laboratory used for analysis), USGS site identification (ID) number, beginning date of time of observation or sampling, ending date and time of observation or sampling and data such as flow rate and analytical results. The CSV files include calculated tidal daily flows (Flood_Tide_Tidal_Day.csv and Ebb_Tide_Tidal_Day.csv) that were used in Huntington and others (2020) for estimation of nutrient loads. Tidal daily flows are the estimated mean daily discharges for two consecutive flood and ebb tide cycles (average duration: 24 hours, 48 minutes). The associated date is the day on which most of the flow occurred. CSV files contain quality assurance data for water-quality samples including blanks (Blanks.csv), replicates (Replicates.csv), standard reference materials (Standard_Reference_Material.csv), and atmospheric ammonium contamination (NH4_Atmospheric_Contamination.csv). One CSV file (EWI_vs_ISCO.csv) contains data comparing composite samples collected by an automatic sampler (ISCO) at a fixed point with depth-integrated samples collected at equal width increments (EWI). One CSV file (Cross_Section_Field_Parameters.csv) contains field parameter data (specific conductance, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen) collected at a fixed _location and data collected along the cross sections at variable water depths and horizontal distances across the openings of the culverts at the Chequessett Neck Road dike. One CSV file (LOADEST_Bias_Statistics.csv) contains data that include estimated natural log of load, model residuals, Z-scores, and seasonal model residuals for winter (December, January, and February); spring (March, April and May); summer (June, July and August); and fall (September, October, and November). The data release also includes a data dictionary (Data_Dictionary.csv) that provides detailed descriptions of each field in each CSV file, including: data filename; laboratory or data source; U.S. Geological Survey site ID numbers; data types; constituent (analyte) U.S. Geological Survey parameter codes; descriptions of parameters; units; methods; minimum reporting limits; limits of quantitation, if appropriate; method reference citations; and minimum, maximum, median, and average values for each analyte. The data release also includes an abbreviations file (Abbreviations.pdf) that defines all the abbreviations in the data dictionary and CSV files. Note that the USGS site ID includes a leading zero (011058798) and some of the parameter codes contain leading zeros, so care must be taken in opening and subsequently saving these files in other formats where leading zeros may be dropped.

Stormwater runoff is one of the leading causes of water pollution in the United States. The MS4 permit reduces pollution by regulating the runoff of pollutants into stormwater drains. With the assistance of the MassDEP and the Worcester Community Project Center, we sought to provide the Massachusetts towns of Southbridge, Holden, and Millbury with a cost analysis for implementation of the 2014 draft MS4 permit. In order to achieve this goal, we learned the details of the 2003 permit and 2014 draft permit, interviewed town officials, and performed water quality sampling. After creating our cost analysis, we provided our subject towns with findings and recommendations assessing the feasibility of implementing the permit, and suggestions for best practices each town uses to manage stormwater.

This database contains anion, nutrient, and secchi data collected by MA DEP for assessment of water quality in MA lakes. Data spans 2005-2010. The ultimate goal of the MassDEP is to implement a comprehensive monitoring program (status/assessment, trends and flows, and targeted) that serves all water quality management needs, and addresses streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, coastal areas, wetlands, and groundwater. The five-year rotating watershed assessment program is currently the primary means of meeting the CWA objective related to assessing the status of designated uses. Requirements for the monitoring program designed to support watershed assessments, reflecting CWA mandates, are that it be statewide in scale, comprehensive (all water bodies in the Commonwealth are assessed), and repeated at regular intervals. Water quality surveys generally consist of five sampling events interspersed throughout the water recreation season for conventional water quality analyses such as pH, dissolved oxygen, suspended and total dissolved solids, nutrients, and fecal coliform bacteria.

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. 2025. Community and Non-Transient Non-Community Public Water System Service Area (PubV2025_3).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.

Service areas were mapped initially from 2017 to 2022 and reflect varying years for which service is implemented for that service area boundary. WURP maintains the dataset quarterly with annual data updates; however, the dataset 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. 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

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Delivering high quality drinking water to the residents of a town or city necessitates a robust water management system to ensure the health and safety of its residents. Our report investigates the challenges faced by the water supply districts in the Town of Leicester, Massachusetts. By working together with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Town of Leicester, our goal was to analyze the feasibility of incorporating a collaborative water management system in the Town of Leicester to help alleviate issues of water quality and quantity. In our report, we provide recommendations for the Town of Leicester, its water districts and the Moose Hill Commission on how to collaborate to help Leicester with its current and future water needs

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