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VII. — Some account of the Floods which occurred at the 

 Manchester Waterworks in the month of February, 185^. 



By John Frederic Bateman, F.G.S., Mem. Inst. C.E. 



[Read March 23rd, 1852.] 



In the year 1848, in giving to the society a continuation of 

 the periodical reports upon the fall of rain, the Valley of 

 Longdendale, from which the town of Manchester is to be 

 supplied with water, was shortly described, and such obser- 

 vations as had at that time been made upon the rain in the 

 district, and the quantity of water which flowed from the 

 ground, also accompanied the paper. 



Since that period most of the observations upon the fall 

 of rain have been continued, and the vast works for the 

 storage and conveyance of water which were then only in 

 contemplation have been in great measure executed, and are 

 now rapidly advancing towards completion. 



In the main valley of the Longdendale district, down which 

 flows the river Etherow, three large reservoirs are now con- 

 structing, filling the valley for nearly five miles in length. 

 These three reservoirs will contain, when finished, about 

 516,000,000 cubic feet of water, and will cover about 344 

 statute acres of ground. The Woodhead Reservoir, which 

 is the highest of the series, is formed by an embankment of 

 90 feet; it is about a mile and two-thirds in length, and 

 receives the water naturally draining from about 7,500 acres 

 of high mountain land. The Torside Reservoir, the middle 

 one and the largest of the three, with an embankment of 100 

 feet in height, and the Rhodes Wood Reservoir, immediately 



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