198 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 
Baildon Urban District Council obtains its water supply 
in part from Weecher reservoir, with a gathering ground of 
379 acres on Rombalds Moor, all moorland, without any 
plantations or arable land, and with only one inhabited 
house upon it. The Council owns none of the gathering 
ground. The water is not filtered; “and no precautions 
are considered necessary against contamination.” 
Keighley obtains its water supply at present from the 
Watersheddles reservoir, at the head of the river Worth, 
at 1100 feet elevation, with a gathering ground of 1600 
acres ascending to 1575 feet. Ponden reservoir, at 763 
feet elevation, two miles down stream, with a catchment 
area of 863 acres, provides compensation water to the river. 
These two contiguous areas are situated on the higher 
portions of the Oakworth, Stanbury, and Trawden Moors, on 
the borders of Yorkshire and Lancashire; and consist 
mainly of moorland over Millstone Grit, without any 
plantations and with only 143 acres of arable land. The 
Corporation have acquired the freehold of 2577 acres, and 
have also obtained powers to make bye-laws for the 
prevention of nuisances and pollution on the areas, which 
are without any population or habitations; but no special 
bye-laws have been as yet drawn up. ‘The annual rainfall 
at Watersheddles reservoir varies between 39°81 and 68°19 
inches, averaging 50°30 inches for 19 years. The water 
is slightly brownish in colour and has an acid reaction, 
owing to the peat; and to obviate its action on lead, it 
is passed through filters at Oldfield. 
At present new waterworks are being carried out by the 
Keighley Corporation in the Sladen Valley, where a reservoir 
called Lower Laithe is being formed by the construction of 
an earthen embankment across Sladen Beck, in Haworth 
and Stanbury parishes. The catchment area, 1080 acres, 
of which 1000 acres are owned by the Corporation, lies 
between 741 feet, the level of the reservoir, and 1450 feet 
elevation. There are no plantations on any of the catchment 
areas; but a scheme of afforestation was under consideration 
