Overview
Historically, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) lacked a consistent method of tracking water and sewer map availability in a standardized format across the Commonwealth. Through a collaborative effort between MassDEP's Water Utility Resilience Program (WURP) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program with support from the MassDEP's Drinking Water Program, Wastewater Permit Programs, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, service area maps were developed to depict the boundaries of areas served by community (COM) and non-transient non-community (NTNC) public water systems (PWSs), as well as publicly-owned treatment works (POTWs) and non-POTW treatment facilities [e.g. surface or groundwater discharge permitted facilities treating sanitary or effluent wastewater].
Service area data are important resources for visualizing the spatial distribution and boundaries of areas served by public drinking water, publicly-owned treatment works, and facilities with surface or groundwater discharge permits. The standardized data offered by this dataset can help with:
- Assessing and building climate resilience for utilities;
- Assessing climate change variability and their impacts on water supply;
- Estimating domestic well or septic use in areas not served by COM PWSs and POTWs, respectively;
- Estimating and projecting populations served by a water utility to forecast future use and demand;
- Connecting water quality information to areas served by water utilities;
- Assessing point and nonpoint sources of water pollution;
- Evaluating water supply options;
- Identifying inequities and challenges to clean water and sewer access; and
- Helping the public easily discover who is responsible for services provided by water utilities.
In 2016, MassDEP began cataloging map products submitted to the MassDEP. The statewide inventory included a review of historical mapping projects, available online information, and internal MassDEP files, including hand drawings on road atlas maps, blueprints, CAD maps, and GIS data. Beginning in 2017, the WURP developed draft service areas maps using the cataloged information. An iterative process was implemented to ensure the service area boundaries were accurate. MassDEP staff contacted each water utility to confirm the boundaries of the areas served. Along with confirming existing service area information, the project collected and verified estimated service area delineations for systems not previously delineated and will continue to update the information contained in the datalayers.
MassDEP Water Utility Service Area Layers
The statewide mapping effort from WURP produced the following datasets:
| Water Utility | Dataset | Dataset Description |
|---|---|---|
| Drinking water | MassDEP Estimated Public Water System Service Area Boundaries | The GIS dataset represents approximate service areas for Community (COM) and Non-Transient Non-Community (NTNC) Public Water Systems (PWS) in Massachusetts. |
| Sanitary Sewer | MassDEP Estimated Sewer System Service Area Boundaries | The GIS dataset represents approximate service areas for sewer systems operated by publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and surface and groundwater discharge permitted facilities in Massachusetts. |
Terms of Use
The 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.
All PWS and 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 service area boundary are necessarily served by the system, and some properties outside the mapped service areas could be served by the systems – please contact the relevant system. Not all service areas have been confirmed by the systems.
Please use the following citation to reference the drinking water and sewer data, respectively:
MassDEP. Water Utility Resilience Program. 2025. Community and Non-Transient Non-Community Public Water System Service Areas (PubV2025_3).
MassDEP. Water Utility Resilience Program. 2025. Publicly-Owned Treatment Work and Non-Publicly-Owned Sewer Service Areas (PubV2024_12).
For additional information, visit the MassDEP Water Utility Resilience Program Mapping Project or email WURP.
| Last updated: | April 22, 2025 |
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