BetaBetaDataset
To provide a national geospatial dataset of wastewater sewershed boundaries that supports wastewater management, public health analysis, infrastructure planning, environmental protection, and understanding of wastewater service areas across the United States
The dataset defines “sewersheds” as the geographic areas where wastewater flows to a specific treatment facility, similar to how watersheds define surface water drainage areas
The dataset includes polygon shapefiles of sewershed boundaries for nearly 17,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment works (POTWs) across all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., including EPA-modeled sewersheds and boundaries obtained directly from utilities and states. It also includes geospatial attributes related to wastewater service areas and treatment facilities
The dataset was developed using a combination of publicly sourced wastewater utility data, state and local sewershed boundary datasets, utility-provided shapefiles, and EPA geospatial modeling techniques. The sewersheds are built using H3 Hexagons, a global grid system of uniformly sized hexagons, facilitating efficient statistical calculations. The model uses level 9 resolution, approximately 0.11 km²