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projects in all three utilities on the basis of risk. The IWRWCIP approach is described in more detail
below in Section 1.4.

1.1 Background and Project Need
The Town of Canton faces the challenge of managing its water resources and aging infrastructure in light
of increased regulatory burdens and tight budgets. A variety of water resources issues put pressure on
the resources of the Town. These are just a few examples:

• Dams that are in need of repair and areas of flooding roadways during heavy storms.
• Status of the majority of major ponds and streams in Town listed as impaired for one or more
pollutants, meaning the water bodies are not meeting their highest and best uses.
• Incomplete digital inventory of utility assets, particularly for stormwater infrastructure.
• Recent enforcement penalties by EPA relating to stormwater outfall inventory and inspection.
• Significant sources of infiltration and inflow into wastewater collection systems.
• New water supply infrastructure in need of robust operation and maintenance protocols.
• Water withdrawal permit requirements for flow offsetting.
• Ad-hoc stormwater management and planning and the need for a complete Stormwater Master
Plan to compliment efforts on the water and wastewater systems.

The Town desires a Program that will guide operations, management, capital planning, and regulatory
compliance while optimizing the useful life of its utility assets. Canton recognizes the value in proactive
long term planning, and over the past decade has been making a concerted effort to move towards a
proactive and integrated planning approach to its water resources needs. Here are just a few examples
of recent successful and ongoing efforts by Canton:

• Water System Master Planning - Canton has developed an updated Water System Master Plan and
has been consistently and systematically implementing recommended improvements to its water
system over the past decade.
• MS4 Implementation- Canton has completed the inventory, mapping, and sampling of all of its
stormwater outfalls. Canton began in 2010 to implement other expected requirements of the
pending NPDES MS4 Permit ahead of its issuance as final. A new Illicit Discharge Detection &
Elimination Plan has been completed. The Town's GIS has been updated to include outfall
catchment areas and photographs and record drawings linked to every MS4 outfall.
• Stormwater Regulations — Canton has adopted the NPDES required regulatory mechanisms to
prohibit illicit discharges to the stormwater system and to require construction and post-
construction stormwater management. In addition, Canton has adopted a bylaw that gives the
Board of Selectmen the authority to establish a Stormwater Utility.
• Comprehensive Water Resources Plan —The CWRMP planning documents identified wastewater
needs areas and potential alternatives compatible with the requirements of the interbasin transfer
approval for Well 9.
• Collaboration with Neponset River Watershed Association — While the permitting of Well 9 was
protracted and controversial, a new spirit of collaboration has been fostered with the Neponset
River Watershed Association (NepRWA) over the past several years. Jim Donovan, Canton's Town
Engineer, has been working closely with NepRWA and in June 2012, NepRWA completed a

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Stormwater BMP Retrofit Study for Canton under a 604B Grant. The study developed conceptual
    designs and costs for water quality BM Ps on Town properties.

While the above efforts are all separately worthwhile investments, a truly integrated program will
promote more efficient municipal operations and management of water resource infrastructure.

1.2 Integrated Planning
What is Integrated Planning and why is this IWRM / CIP different than the Comprehensive Water
Resources Management Plan (CWRMP) that Canton has already completed? While Canton's prior
CWRMP documents touched upon wastewater and stormwater issues, it was driven primarily by
drinking water needs, namely to permit the use of Well #9. It also did not rank and prioritize projects on
the basis of benefit and cost. Canton's Integrated Water Resources Program is designed to align with
the components of IWRM Ps required for regulatory purposes, but also to identify needs and rank
recommendations on the basis of 1) reducing risks and 2) maintaining Canton's desired Levels of Service
for its water, sewer, and storm drain systems.

Integrated Planning is a newer concept that is advancing at both the federal and state level. Integrated
Planning provides benefits by:

    •      Promoting more efficient municipal operations and management of water resource
           infrastructure.
    •      Addressing most serious water quality problems sooner.
    •      Recognizing affordability as an integral component of success.
    •      Allowing for agility in decision making and responsiveness when faced with funding or grant
           opportunities
    •      Providing leverage in negotiating with regulators
    •      Providing transparency in resource allocation
    •      Building resiliency into infrastructure planning via innovative and sustainable long term
           management solutions.

As defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), integrated planning is:

    •      A flexible approach to allow municipalities to "best meet all of their Clean Water Act
           requirements and within their financial capability, to better allow:
           o      Sequencing wastewater and stormwater projects in a way that allows the highest priority
                  environmental and public health projects to come first
           o      Use of innovative solutions and adaptive management principles"1

While EPA's current definition of an IWRMP does not specifically mention drinking water, it is
highlighted as an integral component under the Commonwealth's planning definition:




 EPA, February 2012

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Integrated Water Resources Management Plan
 "a plan that evaluates alternative means for addressing a community's current and future wastewater,
drinking water, and stormwater needs and identifies the most economical and environmentally
appropriate means of meeting those needs."2 — Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection


This IWRMP has been specifically designed for Canton to build upon previously completed planning
efforts and to join them together. It has been designed to be consistent with both EPA and MassDEP
definitions of an IWRM P. However, it should be noted that it has not been designed to be a MassDEP-
approved IWRMP, although it includes most of the elements that would be required for DEP approval.
The scope of this IWRMP was developed on the basis of internal Town of Canton leadership and staff
discussions, and in collaboration with the Town's engineering consultant, Kleinfelder. The specific
required components of a DEP-approved IWRMP (assessment of existing and future manmade and
natural conditions, existing infrastructure and need, screening and ranking of alternatives) have been
included either by reference to existing planning documents, or via the asset management and capital
planning tools created in Year 1. One component that has not been a part of this IWRMP development
is a public involvement program. However, public involvement has been an integral part of prior
planning efforts via the CWRMP and Town Master Plan, and is a key component of the newly created
Stormwater Master Plan.


1.3 Project & Program Goals

Project Goal: To develop an Integrated Water Resources Management & Capital Improvements
Plan that combines stormwater, wastewater, and drinking water into a comprehensive, prioritized,
complementary program of annual projects that will deliver reliable infrastructure, operational
efficiency, and regulatory compliance as cost-effectively as possible. This will be accomplished by
implementing a risk-based asset management program for the three systems, in parallel, over a 5-year
span.


Ultimately, data is intended to be collected and compiled in the growing systems database. The
accuracy and reliability of the database for decision making purposes will improve over time. Creating a
process that is founded on data and uses a logical/mechanical process to establish priorities helps create
transparency, and is the basis for regulatory latitude.

At full implementation, the Program is expected to achieve the following outcomes and benefits:


•      Provide a transparent long-term capital program that can be explained on the basis of
       demonstrable need, risk reduction, real data and available financing (for both the public and the
       regulatory community);
•      Convert a "snapshot" approach of water resource needs at one moment in time to a dynamic
       program that can more deftly manage changed conditions (physical, political and regulatory);


2 Water Resource Management Planning, white paper, MassDEP



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• Leverage projects across multiple compliance areas (e.g. SWMI and MS4 mitigation and off-set
requirements);
• Compile guidance on best practices for system maintenance and complying with regulatory
requirements; and,
• Provide a means to compare competing resource needs on an equitable "apples to apples"
basis.

An asset management approach to integrated water resources capital planning ensures a dynamic.
plan to capture and continuously reevaluate data that allows adaptation and renewal of the program
on a data-driven basis.

1.4 Project Approach and Phasing
The development of the Program with three systems in parallel is a labor intensive effort. In order to
comprehensively characterize risk and provide information necessary for informed decision-making on
infrastructure re-investment, it will be phased under a five year program. The timeframe was selected
in order to spread costs and time demands on Town staff. The program phases activity such that
decision-making tools will become available in Year 1, but continue to be refined over the program term
as more data becomes available. The data developed throughout the project will be used for multiple
and complementary purposes: regulatory compliance, operational improvements, capital planning, and
analysis to improve the risk model. As originally conceived at the beginning of Year 1, the approach to
the 5-year plan was the following:

• Year 1 would be focused on building the GIS asset inventory that will support the asset
management program and also defining the goals, levels of service, and risk components that
will be the framework for the program.
• Year Two will be focused on risk and field data collection, targeting data gaps in the GIS system.
During year 2 we will also start documenting information that will be used for the next year's
tasks.
• Year Three will focus on inspection data program and work management to develop a system
for work order and service request aspects of the asset management program.
• During Year 4, the focus will be on the integration of facilities into the system, while progressing
on the inspection data collection tasks. During these four years, capital planning reports will be
developed that will rank and prioritize projects from the water, sewer and storm water systems
based on risk factors defined by the Town.
• In Year Five, the focus will be on building the necessary procedures in the asset management
program to bundle asset information into projects, considering long-term budget strategies and
producing as a result a data-driven strategic capital plan.

During FY14-15, the Year 1 scope included two major components: 1) a Stormwater Master Plan and 2)
Year 1 of the 5-year IWRM-CIP asset management plan. Year 1 tasks focus on the Stormwater System as
this system has the least well developed capital planning framework and the most imminent regulatory

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compliance demands. More detailed plan updates to Sewer and Water will be implemented in Years 2
and 3. The Year 1 major Tasks, Goals, and Deliverables are summarized below.

Year 1 FY14 Goals Major Deliverables
Tasks
1. Stormwater Provide a Plan that: • Stormwater Master Plan with risk-based
Master Plan • Meets regulatory requirements and/or spells project-level CIP
out phased approach to future compliance. • NPDES MS4 Stormwater Management
• Defines priority projects (capital and other) for Plan Including: Bylaw/Code reviews,
budgeting based on initial top-down risk Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans,
analysis. Municipal Good Housekeeping Manual,
Stormwater Infrastructure 0+M Manual
2. Year 1— • Implement the ft year of a 5-year plan to build For all three utilities:
IWRM-CIP an integrated and risk-based strategic capital • GIS Standards & Database that compiles
improvements plan for water, stormwater, readily available data and identifies data
sewer. gaps
• Provide a preliminary risk-based CIP at the • IWRM-CIP Year 1 Report with Critical
project ("top-down") level for water, sewer & Asset Analysis, preliminary Risk Model w/
stormwater. Future year updates will become CIP and 0+M recommendations
'bottom up' as asset condition data is
gathered/refined.

The findings and results of Year 1 are summarized in Section 4, and are described in more detail in the
Canton Asset Management Program (CAMP) Year 1 Implementation Report.

2.0 Leveraging of Prior Planning Studies

2.1 2004 Canton Master Plan
In 2004 the Town went through a detailed Master Planning process with extensive public input. This
document provided a detailed description of Town demographics and land use. The following guiding
planning principles were established, several of which are highlighted as dovetailing with the IWRM-CIP.

• The Town will preserve, maintain, and acquire open space so that all residents will have access to
natural resources that are well identified and publicized.
• Canton will continue to provide diverse recreation opportunities for residents of all ages.
• Canton will preserve its history for conservation as well as education purposes.
• The Town will continue to provide high quality services, facilities, and infrastructure.
• The Town will value its facilities and infrastructure and will maintain them well.
• Residents will all know what services are available in Town and how best to access those
services.
• The Town will work — both locally and regionally— towards improving traffic flow, including
providing alternatives to automobile travel.
• The downtown will be revitalized with a unified look and a pedestrian-oriented center.
• Development will be controlled, and thoughtful development will preserve town character.
• The downtown will be beautiful, vibrant, and full of activity.

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