Site Plan Requirements

The requirements for site plans and as-builts have been prepared to assist property owners, developers, builders, architects, engineers, and others in securing the necessary approvals from BWSC. For more information continue to the General Requirements page.

General Requirements

All water work must meet or exceed BWSC's standard requirements.

Water Requirements

All sewer work must meet or exceed BWSC's standard requirements.

Sewer Requirements

All storm drain work must meet or exceed BWSC's standard requirements. BWSC reserves the right to determine whether drainage issues will be addressed during building renovations. Site plan review projects in the City of Boston are required to infiltrate a volume of runoff equal to one inch of rainfall times the total impervious area on site must be infiltrated prior to discharge to a storm drain or a combined sewer system for projects less than 100,000 square feet of floor area. For all projects which are at or above 100,000 square feet of floor area, the project must use a volume of runoff equal to 1.25 inches of rainfall times the total impervious area on site. Applicant is required to electronically obtain, fill out, and upload an Excel-based Green Infrastructure Worksheet when directed by BWSC.

Storm Drain Requirements

Demolition of a building in the City of Boston involves a number of forms, permits and supporting documents overseen by a number of agencies.

The property owner must initiate a General Services Application (GSA):

• Submit a letter to Customer Services requesting demolition
• Submit a letter from a BWSC licensed and bonded contractor
• Request BWSC to shut-off all domestic and fire pipe service
• Provide the fire pipe Shut-off Permit Number from the Boston Fire Department located at 115 Southampton Street, Boston, MA
• Return BWSC’s water meter and Meter Transmission Unit after water shut off in public way
• Pay any outstanding balances along with any unbilled accrued charges and reclassify the account
• To complete the GSA hire a bonded and licensed drain layer company for the disconnection (cutting and capping) of the water, sewer, and storm drain connections at BWSC’s main lines and the removal of all appurtenances

BWSC Bonded and Licensed Contractors

Upon completion of all tasks, the GSA will be closed out. This closed out GSA is the BWSC’s sign off document, to be delivered to ISD.

After the site plan is approved and signed by the Chief Engineer, or his designee, a General Service Application (GSA) must be completed by the owner of the property, or the owner's agent, prior to the initiation of the approved work. A prerequisite for filing a GSA with BWSC for new construction is the Rough Construction Sign-Off document from the City of Boston's Inspectional Services Department. A deposit based on the size of the water service or fire pipe connection and sewer and drain connections must accompany the GSA submission. Upon receipt of the appropriate deposit, BWSC will establish a water and sewer account and assign an account number to the property. An inspection fee will be charged for each water and sewer connection. 24 hours advanced notice is required for inspection scheduling. If any inspection date is scheduled on weekends, holidays or after regular work hours, an additional inspection fee will be charged. Also, if the contractor fails to notify the BWSC inspectors of a cancellation in advance, an additional inspection fee will be charged to the contractor when the job is subsequently rescheduled.

All construction work performed on BWSC systems or construction work performed on systems whose ownership may be transferred to the BWSC must be inspected by a BWSC Construction Inspector at the developer's expense. The contractor will be charged the current BWSC rate per diem based upon estimated work days through the completion of the project. The Manager of Engineering Customer Service will make this determination. These payments shall be made through Engineering Customer Service Department. Upon completion of the work, a refund or an additional bill will be issued based upon actual working days. The contractor must notify, in writing, the Director of the BWSC Construction Division, seven days prior to the beginning of construction. This will allow BWSC sufficient time to schedule field inspection.

Site plans are valid for a period of one year from the date of approval.

After a period of one year from the date of approval, site plans must be reactivated. Both a narrative letter and a new site plan are required for reactivation.

BWSC requires As-Built drawings to be submitted to Engineering Customer Service within 30 days of project completion. As-built plans must be submitted by Professional Engineer certified in Massachusetts.

Other than standard service connections, site plans which require on-site infiltration systems, particle separators or drainage overflow connection systems, and all work on BWSC's water mains, sanitary sewers or storm drains, must be detailed in Auto Cad Release 14 disk or higher. Upon completion of the work, these drawings are to be submitted to BWSC at 980 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA. These drawings must include:

1. Location of any abandoned items, such as pipes, water gates and manholes
2. Location of all new installations, such as gates, manholes, reducers, 3-way tees, bends and other appurtenances
3. Tie-in measurements from all new items to property lines and corners
4. A Separate Plan and Profile sheet of all sewer and drain lines. Invert elevation of all sewer and drain lines at the manholes and aligned with plan view.
5. Depth of water pipe at all gates, bends and connections
6. Size and type of all pipes, valves and hydrants installed
7. Rim elevations of all manholes
8. As-Built calculations and information include size, proposed impervious area, proposed impervious area, required infiltration capacity, and latitude/longitude of all GI/LID installed

For projects with BMP/GI installations, submit an updated Green Infrastructure Worksheet providing information such as BMP/GI type(s), as-built calculations, and location.

• BWSC stamps
• Bond fillable PDF
• Bond printable PDF
• General Service Application Form (GSA)
• General Site Plan Form
• Site Plan Checklist
• AutoCAD Checklist
• As-Builts
• As-Builts Plan Certification
• Backwater Valve Regulations
• Water/Sewer Mark-Out Request
• Water Main Shutdown Request Form

• Backflow Preventer Design Data Sheet
• Fire Flow Test Form
• Cross Connection Regulation and Guidelines

• Easement Request Form

• AutoCAD Standards
• General Site Plan Requirements
• Sewer/Stormwater Requirements
• Green Infrastructure Worksheet
• Green Infrastructure Worksheet Instruction Document
• Green Infrastructure Worksheet Instruction Video
• Green Infrastructure Worksheet Example
• Stormwater Permit Requirements
• Material Requirements
• Water Data
• Guidelines for Grit & Oil Separators
• Meter Standard Specifications
• Construction Specifications
• Engineering Standard Details

• Site Plan R2022
• Site Plan R2000
• Site Plan R2004
• Site Plan R2010
• Site Plan R2016