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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.
Releases of oil and/or hazardous material to the environment are required to be reported to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's (MassDEP) Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (BWSC), in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 21E and procedures established within the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) (310 CMR 40.0000). The DEP Oil or Hazardous Materials Sites with Activity and Use Limitation (AUL) datalayer is a statewide point dataset containing the approximate location of oil or hazardous material release/disposal sites where an AUL has been filed. The sites mapped in this datalayer represent only a subset of the total reported release sites tracked by MassDEP BWSC. An AUL provides notice of the presence of oil and/or hazardous material contamination remaining at the location after a cleanup has been conducted pursuant to Chapter 21E and the MCP. The AUL is a legal document that identifies activities and uses of the property that may and may not occur, as well as the property owner's obligation and maintenance conditions that must be followed to ensure the safe use of the property. The complete AUL is filed at the County Registry of Deeds office for the respective City/Town. In addition, a copy of the AUL is available in MassDEP BWSC site files and in City/Town Offices where the AUL is located. Location types featured in this datalayer include the approximate center of an AUL site, the center of a building on the property where the release occurred, the approximate center of the lot, and source of contamination. Under Massachusetts' privatized waste site cleanup program, data maintained by DEP regarding site location is provided by potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and by licensed site professionals (LSPs), who work for the PRPs. Location data is provided in a paper format (e.g., map and textual information) by PRPs and LSPs and maintained by MassDEP BWSC in individual site files. These site files are available to the public through MassDEP's Regional Offices. Anyone wishing to view an AUL site file can make arrangements with the respective MassDEP Regional Office through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The MassDEP encourages persons to review these site files when they make decisions that consider a specific site.
The MassDEP Tier Classified Oil and/or Hazardous Material Sites datalayer is a statewide point dataset containing the approximate location of oil and/or hazardous material disposal sites that have been (1) reported and (2) Tier Classified under M.G.L. Chapter 21E and the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP). Location types featured in this datalayer include the approximate center of a site, the center of a building on the property where the release occurred, the source of contamination, or the location of an on-site monitoring well. For the purposes of this document, the terms "MassDEP Tier Classified oil and/or hazardous material disposal sites" and "Tier Classified Chapter 21E sites" are synonymous and are often referred to simply as "sites".
Releases of oil and/or hazardous materials are reported to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's (MassDEP) Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (BWSC), according to procedures established in the MCP (310 CMR 40.0000). The sites mapped in this datalayer represent only a subset of the total reported Chapter 21E sites tracked by MassDEP BWSC. Chapter 21E sites that have not yet been Tier Classified are not contained in this datalayer.
Under Massachusetts' Waste Site Cleanup Program, which is a largely privatized program, Tier IA classified sites and Immediate Response Actions (IRAs) at any site receive direct MassDEP oversight. Data maintained by the MassDEP regarding site location are provided to MassDEP BWSC by potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and by licensed site professionals (LSPs), who work for the PRPs. Location data is provided in a paper format (e.g., map and textual information) by PRPs and LSPs and maintained by MassDEP BWSC in individual site files. These site files are available to the public through the MassDEP's Regional Offices.
Anyone wishing to view Chapter 21E site files can make arrangements with the regional offices though a Freedom of Information request. MassDEP encourages persons to review these site files when they make decisions that consider a specific site. Most of the site locations included in the MassDEP Tier Classified Oil and/or Hazardous Material Sites datalayer are interpretations of data provided by PRPs and LSPS converted to a digital format by MassDEP staff. These data have not been field-verified. In some cases where file information was inadequate or unavailable, locations were provided by MassDEP technical staff through knowledge gained in the course of their professional activities.
The State Superfund Law and the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP):
The rules requiring notification, assessment and remediation of releases of oil and hazardous materials are codified in the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) 310 CMR 40.0000. Under the MCP and M.G.L. Chapter 21E, the PRPs are responsible for the timely assessment and cleanup of disposal sites in Massachusetts. The MassDEP BWSC is required to audit PRP response actions performed on 20% of the sites and when necessary provides direct agency oversight of cleanup efforts.
If permanent cleanup is not achieved for a disposal site within a year of being reported to MassDEP, the site must be classified as Tier I or II in accordance with the MCP's numerical ranking system (NRS), outlined in 310 CMR 40.1500. The NRS is a point system based on a variety of factors, including the site's complexity, the type of contamination, and the potential for human or environmental exposure to the contamination. In addition, some sites are automatically given a Tier I classification if they pose an imminent hazard or affect public water supplies. A site's Tier Classification determines the level of MassDEP oversight. Tier I sites require a permit and Tier IA sites, considered to be the most complicated sites, require direct MassDEP BWSC oversight.
Title 5 Setback Areas is a polygon layer of variable width buffer zones around water features and other natural resources. These buffer areas are established for the purpose of aiding in the implementation of Title 5 (310 CMR 15.00) regulations for the siting, construction, inspection, upgrade and expansion of on-site sewage treatment and disposal systems, and for the transport and disposal of sewage. The buffer areas represent the setback requirements for the installation of septic systems near specific natural resources and water features. Please refer to the Title 5 regulations for the specific setback requirements. MassGIS stores this layer in a statewide ArcGIS Enterprise Geodatabase featureclass (TITLE5_POLY).
The National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) data incorporates all Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) databases published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and any Letters Of Map Revision (LOMRs) that have been issued against those databases since their publication date. It is updated on a monthly basis. The FIRM Database is the digital, geospatial version of the flood hazard information shown on the published paper FIRMs.
The FIRM Database depicts flood risk information and supporting data used to develop the risk data. The primary risk classifications used are the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event, the 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood event, and areas of minimal flood risk. The FIRM Database is derived from Flood Insurance Studies (FISs), previously published FIRMs, flood hazard analyses performed in support of the FISs and FIRMs, and new mapping data, where available. The FISs and FIRMs are published by FEMA.
The NFHL is available as State or US Territory data sets. Each State or Territory data set consists of all FIRM Databases and corresponding LOMRs available on the publication date of the data set.
The specification for the horizontal control of FIRM Databases is consistent with those required for mapping at a scale of 1:12,000. This file is georeferenced to the Earth's surface using the Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) and North American Dataum of 1983 (NSRS-2007).
The data in this layer, named FEMA_NFHL_POLY, include data published by FEMA as of July 14, 2017(Latest Study Effective Date = 11/04/2016; Latest LOMR Effective Date = 07/14/2017).
Generalized hydro classification from the 2011 flyover.
Overview
These Surface Water Supply Protection Areas delineate those areas included in 310 CMR 22.00, the Massachusetts Drinking Water Regulations, as Surface Water Supply Protection Zones:
ZONEA: represents a) the land area between the surface water source and the upper boundary of the bank; b) the land area within a 400 foot lateral distance from the upper boundary of the bank of a Class A surface water source, as defined in 314 CMR 4.05(3)(a); and c) the land area within a 200 foot lateral distance from the upper boundary of the bank of a tributary or associated surface water body.
ZONEB: represents the land area within one-half mile of the upper boundary of the bank of a Class A surface water source, as defined in 314 CMR 4.05(3)(a), or edge of watershed, whichever is less. Zone B always includes the land area within a 400 ft lateral distance from the upper boundary of the bank of a Class A surface water source.
ZONEC: represents the land area not designated as Zone A or B within the watershed of a Class A surface water source, as defined in 314 CMR 4.05(3)(a).
All active and inactive surface water supplies have zones delineated, but some may be covered by other legislation. MassDEP protection Zones A, B, & C are in effect at MWRA sources and are subject to the protections in 310 CMR 22.00. MWRA has additional protections for their reservoirs that are included in the Massachusetts Watershed Protection Act, MGL 350 CMR 11.00. Watershed extents for all surface water supplies including active, inactive, emergency, sources outside of Massachusetts, watersheds that extend into other states and watersheds of sources from other states that extend into Massachusetts are included in the datalayer SWP Watersheds. Surface water intakes on Class B Rivers are not included in either datalayer. The reservoir features were taken from the DEP Wetlands 1:12,000 datalayer and removed from the Zone A and B features and added as a separate feature. For MassDEP's regulatory wording of these zones please see Water Supply Protection Area Definitions.
This layer, named SWP_ZONES_POLY, replaces the now discontinued MassDEP ZONEA_POLY, ZONEB_POLY and ZONEC_POLY layers.
Methodology
Those areas that contribute to public surface water supplies were originally taken from the USGS Drainage Sub Basins datalayer and overlaid with the 1:25,000 Hydrography datalayer to identify reservoirs and tributary streams. The reservoirs were extracted and buffered to produce Zone B’s, reservoirs and tributaries were extracted and buffered to produce Zone A’s, and sub basins were extracted to create Zone C’s. Starting in 2003, the DEP GIS Program began using the elevation control points and breaklines from the 1:5,000 Digital Orthophoto Project to create a digital elevation model of a surface water supply watershed, and using the ArcHydro Toolset developed by ESRI and the University of Texas GIS Water Resources Consortium delineated watersheds digitally.. These basins were then field checked by MassDEP Drinking Water Program staff and edits made when necessary. Additional streams were extracted from the DEP Wetlands 1:12,000 datalayer, added to the USGS 1:25,000 Hydrography datalayer and buffered to create extended Zone A’s. This work is ongoing and is about 35% complete, with watersheds prioritized by perceived accuracy or if threats to the watershed are identified, with work now progressing in Essex County. Please refer to the delineation type and date fields to see which watersheds have been processed. In addition to this in 2007 the reservoir polygons were extracted from the DEP Wetlands 1:12000 datalayer and used to modify the Zone A and B buffers, and were added to the USGS 1:25000 Hydrography datalayer to allow it to accurately align with the buffer zones. While many of the watersheds are based on USGS Drainage Sub Basins, no attempt has been made to align the existing sub basins with the terrain delineated watersheds and zones, including errors in major basin divides. The attributes relating to water supply zones in the existing USGS Drainage Sub Basins have been removed.
Watershed for surface water supplies. Used for the zoning map and Watershed Protection and the Ad-Hoc Water Committees. Originally developed by Metcalf & Eddy (unknown year), the mapping was further refined over the years. Thumbnail image includes wetlands features from MassDEP.
Generalized vegetation classification from the 2011 flyover.
Many buildings include base elevations and roof line elevations. Obtained from 2011 aerial photography.
MBTA Rail lines
Right of way lines used on Assessors tax maps.