CHECKLIST: IS YOUR COMMUNITY WATER WISE?
This checklist identifies the top 20 water-wise tools that communities can use to manage watershed resources and restore the Ipswich River. The tools are organized by strategy and encompass planning, regulatory, economic, infrastructure, and outreach approaches.
Click on each tool for a fact sheet that provides an overview of the tool, local examples to illustrate its application, and links to additional resources.
Click here to download the checklist in PDF format.
1. Master Plan for Smart Growth
Is your community's master plan or community development plan up-to-date?
Does your community's plan incorporate buildout projections of future population and infrastructure needs?
Does your community's plan incorporate smart growth techniques, such as promoting mixed-use development near public transit and downtown areas?
2. Integrated Water Resources Management Plan
Has your community developed an integrated water resources management plan that addresses the following?
Water conservation
Water supply sources and future needs
Wastewater management, including impacts of wastewater export via sewer systems on local watershed budgets
Stormwater management and NPDES Phase II requirements
Drought and emergency planning
3. Comprehensive Open Space Plan
Has your community developed a comprehensive open space plan that addresses the following?
Source water protection for surface water reservoirs and aquifer recharge areas
Open space protection for critical habitats, wetlands, and riparian buffer zones
Protection and enhancement of recreational opportunities, such as walking trails and access for swimming and boating
4. Water Use Restriction Bylaw
Has your community passed a water use restriction bylaw that incorporates the following?
Action thresholds based on streamflow levels in the Ipswich River and/or its tributaries
Progressive restrictions on summer outdoor water use, including limiting lawn watering to hand-held devices only
5. Outdoor Lawn Irrigation Bylaw
Has your community passed a bylaw to limit outdoor irrigation, by one or more of the following strategies?
Limiting the hours, dates, and/or frequency of lawn watering
Prohibiting connection of automatic lawn irrigation systems to the municipal water system, or charging a registration fee for such connections
Requiring automatic irrigation systems to use rain sensors or weather-based controllers
Limiting the size of lawns and high water use landscape areas
Limiting irrigable lawn and landscape areas
Does your community's water use restriction bylaw apply to private wells?
Does your community restrict private water withdrawals of surface water and groundwater below the Water Management Act threshold of 100,000 gallons per day?
7. Stormwater Management Program and Bylaws
Has your community developed a comprehensive stormwater management program and passed a bylaw or set of bylaws to preserve natural drainage patterns and promote stormwater recharge, such as a low-impact development (LID) bylaw? The bylaw(s) should incorporate the following elements:
Detection and elimination of illicit discharges to the storm sewer system
Runoff and erosion control at construction sites
Post-construction runoff control to maintain pre-development groundwater recharge rates by limiting impervious surface, infiltrating runoff in rain gardens and vegetated swales, and preserving natural drainage features
8. Open Space Residential Design Bylaw
Has your community passed a bylaw to promote subdivision design that sets aside important natural resource areas, protects a minimum of 50 percent of total land area as open space, and clusters development efficiently in the remaining area?
Can developers implement open space residential design without facing additional or cumbersome permitting requirements or extra design steps?
9. Source Water Protection Program and Bylaw
Has your community developed a source water protection plan and passed related bylaws to protect drinking water supplies from contamination by establishing a zoning overlay district that identifies aquifer recharge zones and/or reservoir drainage areas and restricts land uses within those areas?
Has your community passed a non-zoning wetlands bylaw that provides for stricter protection of wetlands and water resources than the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act by requiring a permit for any activity to remove, fill, dredge, build on, discharge into, or otherwise degrade natural resource areas such as wetlands and vernal pools?
11. Conservation Water Rate Structure
Does your community's water rate structure incorporate the following elements?
Increasing block and/or seasonal rate structure that increases the cost per gallon of water in steps as water use goes up
Monthly or quarterly billing to enable customers to track their seasonal usage
Enterprise accounting that dedicates water user fees to the operation of the water system and accounts for the full cost of operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system
12. Water Bank or Offset Program
Has your community set up a water bank or offset program to mitigate the impact of new or increased water withdrawals, by requiring developers to implement water-saving activities and/or pay into a dedicated fund to support water-saving projects elsewhere in the source watershed? This may be accomplished by charging new water users a per-gallon fee, which is deposited into an enterprise fund to pay for water conservation activities.
Does your community assess a fee associated with stormwater runoff to pay for stormwater control activities? This fee is normally charged to landowners based on the amount of stormwater runoff they contribute due to site design, lot size, and extent of impervious area.
Does your water department offer discounts or rebates to residents for purchase of water-efficient fixtures and appliances, such as low-flow toilets and washing machines?
Does your community offer discounts or rebates for rain barrels, which collect rainwater from roof gutters and store it for use in lawn irrigation?
15. Dedicated Funding Source for Land Acquisition
Has your community adopted the Community Preservation Act by approving a referendum to levy a local property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent for the purpose of creating a Community Preservation Fund and qualifying for state matching funds to acquire and protect open space?
If your community has not passed the Community Preservation Act, has it set aside funding for open space preservation either through a stable revenue source or town meeting appropriation?
16. Water Audits and Leak Detection
Does your water department strive to increase water efficiency and reduce unaccounted-for-water, using the following strategies?
Regular system-wide water audits and residential water audits
Field surveys for leaks of the source transmission and distribution system water mains every 1-2 years and prompt leak repair
100 percent metering of all water sources and end users to accurately track water flows
Ongoing meter testing and replacement
17. LID Demonstration Projects on Municipal Property
Is your community piloting innovative LID and water conservation techniques on municipal properties, such as schools, town halls, and playing fields?
18. Habitat Restoration on Municipal Property
Has your community identified opportunities for physical restoration of aquatic and riparian habitat at municipally owned sites and structures? For example:
Removing obsolete dams or creating passage for multiple aquatic species at remaining dams
Replacing poorly designed culverts that act as barriers to fish and wildlife passage
Restoring degraded wetlands and stream channels on town lands and in city parks
Does your community have a comprehensive program to educate residents about water conservation, stormwater management, land protection, and river restoration? Such a program might include:
Up-to-date municipal website with links to relevant bylaws
Outreach programs to educate residents about water wise behaviors, such as environmentally friendly landscaping and proper disposal of household hazardous waste
Adequate signage identifying important resource areas, such as stream crossings and public access points to the Ipswich River
Curricula in schools focusing on the Ipswich River, water quality, water conservation, and land protection
20. Water Conservation Coordinator
Does the staff of your community's water department include a full-time or part-time water conservation coordinator to implement well-defined water conservation objectives?
- Introduction & Using the Handbook
- How Development Affects Water (link to IRWA site)
- Checklist: Is Your Community Water Wise?
- Water Wise Tools:
